Ancient Enemy: A Digimon Fan Novel
by Thinker
Summary: Summer 2003: A great evil as old as the Digital World itself appears. And tasked with stopping it is... MIMI? An epic new adventure begins, featuring an international team and a journey across North America, the streets of Tokyo, and strange new regions of the Digital World. A tale of adventure, love, and self discovery begins in New York City...
1. The NY Three

_(Author's Note: For reference, it might be helpful to read another of my stories, "Unintended," though it is **not necessary** as events from that story will be summarized. Keep in mind that "Unintended" was written a long time before September 11th, 2001. In it, a substantial portion of the World Trade Center is blown up. Believe me when I say that the real-life tragedy touched me as deeply as the rest of the country. That said, I'd also like to establish that, in this "reality" the WTC was never destroyed, since the events of Unintended took place in late 2002, and this story takes place in mid-2003. While this story does not coincide with our own reality, it is my hope that it will still have some relevance to real life. Thank you, and enjoy!)_

* * *

**Prologue:**

**Diary**

The dream is always the same.

I'm standing alone, my eyes closed, but I can feel a cold wind blowing against me. I hug myself and shiver in the cold. As the wind begins to howl, I open my eyes and stare out onto Tokyo.

Or, that is, where Tokyo used to be.

The city is totally gone now. All that remains is a massive crater filled with rubble. Twisted metal, chunks of concrete, shards of glass, tangled knots of wires, and even some charred remains of trees litter the area. In the distance is Mount Fuji, its snow gone, its beauty no longer appreciated.

I think of my family, my brother, my friends, and the digimon. Now they're all gone. No one else is left but me, and that doesn't make me the lucky one.

I look around at my surroundings, and find that the countryside is gone as well. The woods nearby the city swept away like dead leaves by some unstoppable force. Even the topsoil is gone. Since all the plants died, there is nothing to keep it in place, and the wind carries it off, leaving only bare, rocky terrain.

The real terror doesn't come then, though. It comes when I realize that Tokyo isn't the only place like this; it's like this all over the world. Everyone is gone, and I am the last person left alive.

Once I realize that, _he_ comes for me. I feel his frozen breath on my neck, icier than the howling wind, and I turn to face him. I never get a good look at his face, but I can sense his dark power. Of all the dark forces I've ever had to face, none of them were as evil as this. He's a superior of Myotismon and a brother to Apocalymon, and he's more ancient than the Pyramids or the first dynasty of China. And all he wants is to kill me.

I let out a scream and awake from the dream. Gatomon is awake after me and is quick to ask what's wrong. I tell her it's just a nightmare and leave it at that.

Like I said, the dream is always the same. But now something else is scaring me. I'm starting to have the dream more often. I had it for the first time a few days after we defeated MaloMyotismon. Then it started coming every week, then every few days, and now it's almost every night. I'm afraid to go to sleep and my family is starting to worry about me.

I can't tell my family what's going on. They wouldn't understand. I'm not sure I understand either. I haven't written about this until now because I was sure it was just a dream. Or that I was going crazy. But now I know that I'm not going crazy, and soon I'm going to have to face facts: that thing in my dream is _real_. That horrible thing that wants to kill us all is _real. _I've always had these strange abilities to sense things, and I can tell that the dark force in my dreams is out there, somewhere, and not just in the digital world, but in our world. He is here on Earth and he won't stop until the last human and digimon are dead.

I can't tell my brother, or my friends. Even Gatomon doesn't know anything. I finally figured it out, and now I know why I can't tell them: there's nothing we can do.

It makes me so angry sometimes! I think I'm strong enough to face things like this, but then I realize that sometimes there's nothing I can do to keep the darkness out. Tai wouldn't understand; he'd try to fight even if he knows it's hopeless.

But it isn't totally hopeless. Just because the other Digidestined and I in Japan can't do anything doesn't mean that there aren't others who can. I know that my dream doesn't have to come true. Somewhere, far away, are the ones that can save the world.

I just hope they can do it before _he_ finds them.

-Hikari "Kari" Kamiya

May 15, 2003

* * *

Kari went to bed that night and was surprised that there was no nightmare this time, but she woke up with a distinct chill. She had this feeling, this awful, dreadful feeling, that something had been there. Something terrible and unearthly. Nonetheless, she walked over to her desk, taking out the diary. She turned to the last page and screamed, dropping the book on the floor.

Written below her last line, "I just hope they can do it before _he _finds them," was a new entry written in handwriting that was not her own. It said this, and only this:

_Don't bet on it. I'll be seeing you real soon, little girl. :)_

**BEGIN NORTH AMERICA ARC**

* * *

**Chapter One:**

**The NY Three**

* * *

New York City, also known as the city that never sleeps, sometimes affectionately known as the Big Apple, buzzed with activity just as it always did. It was a warm, sunny day and whole neighborhoods of children spilled out onto the streets, enjoying what was, for many, the first day of summer vacation. One of those children was a girl named Mimi Tachikawa.

She stood on the balcony of her family's apartment, looking out onto the city she loved and had grown to think of as her home. Looking out in the distance, she could see the ocean as it sparkled in the afternoon sun. Far below, the cars rushed by. The car horns floated up to her in a chorus that many found annoying, but she found strangely soothing. It was a reminder that the city was always alive, always moving forward, the people living their lives as best as they could.

She wasn't much for analysis, but she was content just to experience it.

"Mimi, what are you still doing here?" Palmon asked, coming out the door.

"Oh, I was just watching the ocean," Mimi answered, looking down at her digimon. "Isn't it pretty?"

"I always think the ocean's pretty!" Palmon exclaimed. "I just thought that since it was the first day of your vacation you would go to the mall with your friends. I like going to the mall. I'm so glad you don't have to hide me from your friends and family anymore."

"Couldn't stand living in the closet, could you?" Mimi joked.

"It's cramped in there with all your clothes!" Palmon shot back. "Anyway, I think I spent enough time in there and I _don't_ recommend it."

Mimi laughed and finished her coffee. She had started drinking it this year and found it repulsive, but necessary. She hadn't understood how anyone could drink something so bitter, but found it even harder to get up and get to school on time without it. Besides, it was trendy and guys were always asking her out to get some coffee, so it was convenient to drink it anyway. Her last boyfriend and her had broken up before the school year ended and she couldn't have been happier about it. She really wanted someone a little more like a friend and less like a stuffed animal. Sure, the last guy had been nice, but she got the feeling that he only dated her because she was pretty and she admittedly felt about the same about him: good looking, but dull and, in the end, a disappointment. The next guy she dated would have to be sweet, honest, and like her for who she was, and she would make darn sure before she went out again.

"Well, I thought I'd relax. You're lucky you don't have finals to take, Palmon. I'm exhausted!"

"So am I. I helped you study, remember?" she reminded her.

Mimi sighed and went back in the apartment. "Well, it isn't just the finals. It's also… well, the bad dreams."

Palmon froze. "Bad dreams?" she asked carefully.

"Uh-huh," Mimi said quietly, taking a seat on the couch. "I started having them months ago. It was just once or twice, but now I can't seem to sleep at all without seeing him."

"Him?"

"Yeah, there's just this dream I have about a crater—"

"—where the city used to be," Palmon finished.

Mimi eyed her partner carefully. "And then, when you think that you're all alone in the world, you turn around—"

"—and there _he_ is."

"This guy. He's really tall and he looks just like a shadow, but—"

"—his eyes are glowing red."

The two of them looked at each other uneasily, Mimi turning white and Palmon a paler shade of green.

"Weird," Mimi said. "What does that mean when a Digidestined and her digimon have the same dream over and over again?"

"I don't know," Palmon confessed. "Maybe it means that we're so close that we're starting to share dreams, or in this case, nightmares."

Mimi thought for a moment. "Do you have any other dreams a lot?"

"Uh-huh."

"Me too. Let's tell each other what else we've been dreaming about."

"Okay," Palmon agreed. "Sometimes I dream that I'm being chased by that guy in those movies with the hockey mask and he's got a lawnmower. You?"

"Sometimes I dream about Brad Pitt."

Palmon waited. "What's he doing?"

Mimi looked away, her cheeks reddening. "Um... I can't tell you that."

Palmon shrugged and went to the refrigerator. "Well, it's weird whatever it means," she went on. "Maybe we should e-mail Izzy or Joe and see if they know anything."

"About dreams?"

"Or if they have the same one."

"About Brad Pitt?"

They both had a good laugh about that. Mimi laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes. As she wiped them away, she looked up and saw the calendar, noticing that one of the days had been circled. In fact, it was that day.

"Oh no!" Mimi gasped. "I almost forgot! Quick, Palmon, we need to leave! I forgot what I have to do today!"

* * *

Earlier that morning, there was an incident that slipped by the attention of most, but it was to set in motion fairly significant events later that afternoon.

A hotdog vendor was serving his latest patron one of the delectable franks when it came loose from his tongs. No sooner had it hit the ground when a small, black blur shot by, snatching up the hotdog and disappearing around a nearby corner. The vendor and his customer were both quite shocked, unsure of what it was they saw.

The hotdog thief, meanwhile, was trotting happily in the alley, the hotdog held securely between his teeth. He often heard humans say that New York was tough, but he found it incredibly easy to live in. The digital world had been tough; this place had food everywhere. It would be a utopia for him if it wasn't for all the stupid—

He heard a growling and completed the thought with a snarl: "dogs."

Emerging from behind a dumpster, he saw an immense doberman pincher, ears lowered and teeth barred, staring at his prize.

"Not this again," he sighed, dropping the hotdog. "Let me guess: you want the meat I just snatched and you are willing to fight me for it. You're big and scary and I'm a poor, defenseless rookie digimon. I know the way this works, and you better turn around if you don't want to get hurt."

His name was Scarmon. He was fairly small, standing on all fours. His reptilian head didn't even reach the top of the average human's knees. All over his body were shiny black scales. Each of his four feet had three sharp, curving claws, and a few bony protrusions at the back of his head. He had a box-like head with a wide set of jaws, complete with several large, razor sharp teeth. His nostrils flared, taking in the scent of the both the real dog and his hotdog, keeping an eye on both with his large, yellow eyes. His stubby tail lowered and twitched excitedly as he crouched, ready to pounce. The dog, confused by the lizard-like creature that spoke like humans, was not so put off that it wasn't willing to fight for the hotdog.

"Not going to back off, are ya?" Scarmon asked, barring his own sizable teeth in a voracious grin. "You're brave, but stupid, Rover. I eat puppies like you for breakfast, and I'm _not_ exaggerating when I say that."

The dog barked and Scarmon snarled, displaying his chompers with pride. The dog was apparently unfazed, however, and it charged its opponent. Scarmon leapt straight up into the air with his powerful legs and landed skillfully on the dog's back as its momentum carried it forward. Whirling around upon the dog's back, he opened wide and sank his teeth into the scruff of its neck. The dog yowled in sudden pain, which was made worse as Scarmon dug his claws into the dog's flesh, getting a better hold. "Not exactly a pushover am I, Sparky?" Scarmon taunted as the Doberman furiously shook himself, trying to dislodge his assailant. The dog was stronger than Scarmon suspected and he found it difficult to hang on. Deciding to end it quickly, he released his grip from the dog and landed easily on top of the nearby dumpster. "Up, here, Bingo," Scarmon called, drawing the dog's attention. _"Plasma Fire!"_ he attacked.

The small green fireball hit the ground just ahead of one of the dog's paws. His canine adversary noticed the smoke emanate from the burned ground and then looked to him. Whimpering slightly, the beaten dog retreated back down the alley, its tail between its legs. "Yeah, I thought so," Scarmon called after it in his gruff, growling voice. "I've met _cats_ tougher than you!"

He hopped down from the dumpster and gave a contemptuous snort as he turned back to his hotdog, only to see a mouse nibbling on it.

"Why you cocky little…!" He sprang forward, seizing the mouse in his jaws. It only managed to give one terrified squeak of protest as Scarmon tossed his head back and swallowed the mouse whole. "Serves you right, you little thief," he grumbled, taking up the hotdog. "If you want it so badly I'll send it to you," he added, snapping up the hotdog after him.

Satisfied after his meal, he followed the alley back to a manhole. Grunting as he used all of his little body to lift the heavy cover, he finally removed it and descended into the catacombs beneath the streets. He followed the familiar path he had taken many times before, through the abandoned subway tunnels heading towards his lair. He had holed up there over the winter and found it perfect protection against the harsh New York City cold. It was a nice, secret place to wait a while until his partner was free to join him. He had no idea when that would be, but he was a patient digimon and, if he had to suffer a little indigestion from eating sewer rats, that was fine with him.

"Get away!" shouted an old man in an old Irish accent as he stalked by. "Get away, ye curséd demon! You'll not be getting me soul today!"

Scarmon sighed. He was used to living with the bums that took refuge in the abandoned tunnels deep below the city, but he wished that Mr. Morrison, the only one that knew about him, would remember who he was. He was insane, which meant that no one believed him when he told people that a Komodo Dragon was living in the sewers. Or an alligator. Or Bulgarian pit-bull. Or, like today, a demon. It came in handy when he wanted to keep hidden, but it was annoying to deal with nonetheless.

"For the last time, Mr. Morrison, I'm not a demon," Scarmon sighed. "I'm a digimon! Understand? Digimon? From another world, made of data from the Internet? _'Show me your brave heart_?' Any of this ringing a bell?"

"Get away! Get away, ye foul thing!"

"Whatever," Scarmon sighed, proceeding on to his lair. It wouldn't have bothered him so much if he could be with his partner. With Jin. His best friend would understand how he felt. As much of a loner as he could be, he needed someone else there. If he didn't, he might lose it. He might become like those other crazies out there that saw aliens and demons and walked around with signs that said, "The End is Near." Not that he could hold a sign.

As he approached the little cranny at the back of the tunnel, just a spot with some blankets and a few old boxes, he caught the scent of someone he didn't recognize. Coming up on the lair, he called out, loudly, "All right, whoever you are! Come out or I'll have to eat one of your major organs!"

"Relax," came a high, soothing voice. "I just want to talk. I have some news, and you're a part of it. Come on in and I can help you. Yep, help you I can!"

* * *

Michael James Washington, Jr., wore a big grin on his face when he walked out of school that day. It was the last day for the Seneca School for Boys just outside of New York, and even though it got out a day later than most public schools, he didn't mind. They had a party in class, which was great since he felt like celebrating. This was not only the end of the school year, but the beginning of something very special.

His father was waiting in a limo outside the school and the chauffeur held it open for him. He got inside hurriedly, feeling ecstatic about his plans.

"How was your last day, son?" his father asked.

"Great!" Michael replied. "Why'd you pick me up in a limo?"

"I've got an interview to get to. They want to know about the latest movie."

"You mean 'Iowa Smith and the Pearl of Wisdom'?"

"Yeah."

"I can't believe they wanted you to do another sequel," he replied, rolling his eyes.

"It puts food on the table, doesn't it. Don't be so snotty."

"All right, all right," he relented. "Well, could you drop me off somewhere?"

"Where?"

"A flower shop."

"Which one?" he asked.

"You know, that one over by Central Park, right around King Towers."

The elder Michael Washington eyed his son suspiciously. He grinned knowingly as he asked the second question. "You mean the one near Mimi's apartment?"

Michael reddened slightly. "Yes, that's the one."

"Well, what about Betamon? Aren't you going to bring him along?"

Betamon was asleep on the floor of the limo, resting comfortably on a cushion. The amphibious digimon was completely oblivious to the other passengers, tired as he usually was in the increasing summer heat. He much preferred the cool summer nights or the soft rains of spring to the stifling June sun. He and Michael had become local celebrities since the events of last December, being part of the crew that saved New York from rogue digimon and later revealed as the ones that helped stop Gorillamon from wrecking the Empire State Building. Both accepted their roles with honor and dignity. It was at an awards ceremony in which Michael and Betamon stood next to Mimi and Palmon that one of his friends nudged him and remarked that the two looked pretty good together.

At first, Michael had dismissed the idea. Mimi was his friend, nothing more, as far as he was concerned. Then, gradually, he found himself considering the idea whimsically, then seriously as he realized what Mimi meant to him. She had been his best friend since she came to New York and she had introduced him to the other Digidestined from Japan. He had been attracted to Yolei at that first meeting, but he found that many of the qualities he liked in Yolei were ones she shared with Mimi. That honesty, that Sincerity that had gotten her a crest, was so innocent and pure that he couldn't help but admire it. Her caring personality showed in everything she did and no one could feel neglected when she was around. And then there was her laugh, and her very voice which seemed melodious in his ears. And her big brown eyes, always vibrant and emotional; he had lost himself in her eyes many times, prompting her to ask him if he was all right. And her chestnut hair, which flowed softly around her head like a halo, and her smile, and…

Before he knew it, he realized that he really did feel _that way_ about Mimi. He just hadn't had the courage to tell her. But now, with school out of the way and a whole summer to spend with her, it was his big chance to finally ask her out.

"Michael! I asked if you're going to bring Betamon with you," his father repeated when Michael seemed to have lost himself in a daydream.

"No, I wanted to be alone with her. I thought it might be uncomfortable if I brought him along."

"Brought me along where?" Betamon piped up, awakening from his nap.

Michael sighed while his father laughed. "Hey, Betamon, do you want to go to Mimi's?"

"Sure! Are you going to finally ask her out?"

Michael groaned, slapping his forehead as his father laughed again. "Looks like you're not too good at hiding it, son," he chuckled.

"I wish Mimi would notice so maybe I'd know how she'll react."

"Oh, come on, it's no big deal to ask a woman on a date!" his father said, slapping him on the back. "She either says yes or she says no."

"I've dated before, Dad. But I'm worried that if I ask and she says no, she won't want to be friends anymore," Michael protested, getting even more nervous. "I'm worried that things would be awkward after that."

"You don't need friends that would let a little thing like that come between you," he argued.

"You don't have a friend that means as much to me as she does," he sighed.

Mr. Washington rolled his eyes. "Saunders," he called to the driver, "can you hurry to the flower shop? I'm getting an overdose of teen angst back here and I don't want to be sick for the interview."

The limo sped up slightly and in moments it was at the flower shop. Michael and Betamon got out, his father waving goodbye and wishing him the best of luck. He wasn't sure what kind of flowers to get her and decided that a bouquet of roses was too much, one rose was too corny, and a Venus fly trap was too weird. (The latter suggestion came from Betamon, who felt an instant camaraderie with anything that could catch flies.) In the end, he settled on an assorted bouquet of several flowers. He wasn't very experienced at these kinds of things, but he did know what kind of flowers Mimi liked and he and the florist both thought it looked very pretty. He knew that she loved flowers and felt certain that this would be the best way to tell her how he felt.

As he made his way to her apartment building, he felt butterflies in his stomach, the prospect of telling her making him excited, but also jittery and nervous. He told himself it was stupid. They'd been friends for over a year now, there was no reason to be nervous. Betamon followed, hopping behind him trying to keep up with his partner who was marching deliberately ahead. People turned their heads and whispered, "That's Michael Washington, Jr. He's one of those New York Digidestined."

Michael was above it all, not hearing a word, even the annoyed grunts of Betamon who was struggling to keep up. As he entered the apartment, heart beating rapidly, he was thinking of what life would be like with Mimi. Maybe they'd go on walks in the Digital World. He could see her at a karaoke club, him trying to get her to sing, her giggling and refusing before giving in and singing a song for him. Or maybe she would ask him to play his violin for her. He could see the two of them so clearly. They wouldn't need anyone else. Just them, their digimon, and that would be all they'd need in the world.

"Michael, slow down!" Betamon protested.

Michael halted and looked back to his partner. "Sorry about that, Betamon," he apologized. "Come on, I'll carry you to the elevator. We just need to hurry. Who knows what could happen in a minute. If I was too late—"

"You could be too early if you keep hurrying," Betamon remarked.

"What? Oh, I didn't think about that," he said worriedly. "Wait, how could I-"

"All I'm saying is that there's no rush. Just calm down and be yourself. I'm sure she likes you too. Who doesn't?"

Michael relaxed. "You're right," he agreed. "You're right. I'll just give her the flowers and say… and say…"

"Well, just say something nice and honest. Don't go overboard and tell her she's the girl of your dreams."

Michael shuddered. The very word "dreams" sent a chill through his spine. He had woken up often after a terrible nightmare. His friends, his family, Mimi, Betamon, and everyone had been killed by something. A red-eyed creature of pure evil that finally came for him. He pushed it out of his mind and tried to think of happier thoughts.

Betamon noticed his sudden change of mood and wondered, "Does he have nightmares too? Those dreams about the dark man? The monster with the red eyes?" He would have to ask him later, however, because the elevator doors opened and he stepped out onto Mimi's floor.

He approached her door, his heart thudding loudly, his hands shaking. He stopped about ten feet from he door and took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth. He just had to stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.

Both of them almost leaped right out of their shoes when the door opened wide and Mimi burst from it, Palmon hot on her heels.

"Mimi!" Michael croaked, his face reddening momentarily.

"Michael?" she asked. "Oh, you remembered!" she cooed. "I should have guessed that you would. You never said anything, but I guess you remembered better than I did. You're so considerate!"

Michael just about melted. "Uh-huh," he said. Betamon rolled his eyes.

"And you even brought flowers! You're so sweet!"

The stupid looking grin on his face widened. He couldn't do much more than laugh bashfully. Betamon poked Michael's ankle with one fin. "What's she talking about?" he asked.

Michael froze, but thought quickly. "Well, why don't you tell him, Mimi?"

"Oh, you didn't tell him?" she asked. "Oh well. Betamon, today is the day a friend of ours might be coming back!"

"Who?" Betamon asked for both himself and Michael.

"I almost forgot," she said, embarrassed. "But if we hurry we should be able to make it. You see, today is very special. Today is the day of Jin's parole hearing, and they'll probably let him out!"

"What?" Michael asked, his eyes going wide.

"And you're so sweet that you brought flowers to welcome him home!"

That's when Michael's heart caved in.

* * *

_"Sanbyaku ni-ju… sanbyaku ni-ju ichi… sanbyaku ni-ju ni…"_

Jin Takamura was in the prison gymnasium doing pushups. He had been allowed the privilege of working out as it relaxed him and it was important. The good behavior he'd shown while in the New York City Juvenile Detention Center had gotten him in the good graces of some important people. Even he was surprised when they said he might be getting out soon.

_"Sanbyaku ni-ju san… sanbyaku ni-ju yon… sanbyaku ni-ju go…"_

"Ever try doing it in English?" the guard on duty asked him.

"Fine," he relented. "Three hundred twenty-six… three twenty-seven… eh, that's enough for today."

He rolled over and crawled to his chair.

"Need help?"

"No, I'm fine."

He was quite an individual, unlike any in the facility, and distinctly unlike any Digidestined.

The guardians of the digital world had seen fit to make him a Digidestined, giving him a crest that was energized by dark power: the Crest of Rage. He had gone to the digital world, but never joined with those eight children that had saved the world. No, he and his digimon had wandered the planet alone. His situation was given a cruel twist, however. When the Digidestined pursued Myotismon back to Earth, he had been too late to follow them and was stranded in that world. The time difference between the two worlds had been disastrous for him, for while Myotismon laid siege to Tokyo over the course of a few days, two years passed in the Digital World, during which time the Dark Masters had arrived and survival became a daily struggle. After the defeat of Apocalymon, he had remained in the Digital World another three years. His body had aged two years longer than normal, even though, as far as Earth was concerned, he'd only been gone three. So, he could honestly give his age as 14 or 16, whichever he found more convenient.

The ordeal had warped him in ways he hadn't even understood until it was almost too late. His wrath grew upon learning of his mother's death while he had been away. The loss of his normal life, his role as an unintended Digidestined, his mother's death, and his feeling of inadequacy against the Dark Masters and the Digimon Emperor left him in search of a purpose; a _target. _He had wished to fight evil, and believed he'd found it in New York City. He'd tried to destroy the place, and with Carnagemon, his digimon's Mega form, he'd almost succeeded. A large portion of the north tower of the World Trade Center had been destroyed in the fight with those who'd tried to stop him.

But someone did stop him. Mimi. That sweet girl who had understood him, comforted him, taken his rage away and made him understand that his way was wrong. He was a monster and it horrified him that he had almost killed thousands of innocent people. Some days he looked at himself in the mirror and hated the sight of himself. He would live it down for the rest of his life that he had almost become a killer and the guilt wouldn't leave him.

But, nonetheless, he had learned and he was trying. In the face of the taunts and insults of other young men and the daily confrontation with his own horrible past, he was trying. He felt like he was finally turning a corner and leaving the anger and violence behind him. It had taken five years to do it. That, and, of course, the use of his legs.

"Ungh," he grunted, pulling himself into his wheelchair. "Well, let's go. I think I can face the board now."

He could barely remember it. The army helicopter, the tears in his eyes, the explosion that had sent him over the side. And Scarmon, his partner, in the form of Carnagemon, shielding him with his own body as he plummeted to the ground. He had broken his fall and both had survived, but the force was still strong enough to snap his spine. The end result was that he now had two useless limbs. He'd made the best of it, however, and continued to exercise. His time in the digital world conditioned him, made him strong, and working out was a good way to work through things. He tried to do 350 pushups a day, 300 crunches, and fifty curls of 30 lbs. per arm, among others. Three days a week a physical therapist came in and helped him exercise his legs. (He'd been against it and hated the idea of someone else moving his legs for him, but it kept the muscles from atrophying and she said that it might one day help if he regained the use of his legs.) He was in prime condition and any newcomers to the juvenile hall quickly learned that Jin was nobody they wanted to mess with, though he avoided outright fights if he could avoid them. He couldn't kick, but he was skilled with his arms and had even learned to fight on the floor if some punk knocked him out of his chair. He'd earned the other inmates respect and that was the best way to survive in this place.

If he'd earned the respect of the inmates with his fighting and his toughness, he'd earned the respect of others with his schoolwork. He'd shown a great ability to learn languages, polishing his English skills and the classes he was taking showed he had natural aptitude for it, although he still made several mistakes, particularly with the letter "L." In any case, his schoolwork and his reluctance to fight except in cases of self-defense had earned him good standing. He had even taken a liking to reading, since he couldn't engage in many physical activities that required running, standing, or walking. It was a good way to pass the time, and in prison there were few things more crushingly horrible than boredom.

He'd done well. So well, in fact, that he wasn't even sure that he was ready to be paroled. He was supposed to be there until he was twenty-one, and the courts judged him to be 14 according to his birth records, and he hadn't been there for more than eight months. Still, it would be nice to get out, go to a real school, see other people, see Mimi without a glass window between the two of them, and, of course, Scarmon.

He wheeled himself into the room, three adults sitting in at a table in front of them. They had a lot of papers and a few items obscured from view and they were exchanging a few last minute words before they proceeded.

"Okay, inmate #081385," the chairman began, "please state your name."

"Uh, Jin Takamura, sir," he stated, hesitantly. He felt a little nervous and had almost tried to give his surname first, as they did in Japan, but he'd caught it in time.

"Well, how do you feel today, son?"

"I feel very good, sir," he replied.

"That's good," he continued. "I guess you know how this works, then, don't you? We ask you a few questions then see if you're fit to reenter society. I don't mind telling you that there's a fair chance of that happening."

Jin only nodded.

"Then let's get started," he said, taking sip from his glass of water. "First off, are you willing to stay in a youth hostel for a while?"

"Yes, sir."

"Are you willing to continue attending school, working towards your diploma once school restarts in the fall?"

"Yes, sir."

"And are you willing to meet regularly with a parole officer who will report on your condition?"

"Yes, sir."

The chairman examined several more of his notes. "Well, Jin, you realize that the violation of such things, especially that last one will result in you coming back here. Even the slightest criminal action will send you back here immediately. You steal so much as a stick of gum and you return here for a long, long time."

"I understand, sir," Jin replied. "I won't be involved in any more crimes."

"As you can imagine, we hear that a lot, son," the chairman remarked. "What would you do if a former associate of yours—"

"What is 'associate'?" he asked, unsure of the word.

"Oh, uh, someone you used to know," he clarified. "If a former associate of yours asked you to help him in a gun running operation, what exactly would you say to him?"

Jin cracked a smile. "I don't think I'll be _running_ anything," he said, gesturing at his wheelchair. The board chuckled slightly, and he felt his confidence return. "Seriously, I would tell him that I've had enough of that. I've done it before and it didn't get me anywhere. He'd have to find someone else to do it."

"And then—"

"—I'd call the police," Jin quickly added.

"Well, I must say, Mr. Takamura, you've shown remarkable progress since coming here. There is one issue that we must discuss first."

"Yes, sir?"

The chairman held up two plastic baggies. Jin swallowed when he saw what was in them: his digivice and crest.

"This device baffled us when we first received it. We had it examined but determined it was not dangerous or illegal. The same goes for this tag, which we thought may have been gang-related, but found no indication that any gang used it for a symbol."

Jin folded his hands, keeping calm, eyes narrowed and emotionless.

"Are you aware of the testimony given last January before the Japanese Diet? The one regarding the creatures known as digimon? In particular, that of a…" he checked his notes, "Koushiro Izumi?"

"Everyone knows about it, sir," Jin replied.

"Of course," the chairman went on. "Well, his testimony and subsequent pictures taken afterwards have identified these items which were found on you. This electronic device is known as a 'digivice,' used to empower digimon partnered with certain humans. This tag and crest harnesses an individual trait typically for the purpose of further empowerment, though the majority of these crests were destroyed."

Jin was silent.

"I'll be frank with you, Jin. We know your secret. We know you're one of these so-called 'Digidestined.' This was not something you told us or had mentioned at your trial. The conclusion reached was that you were working under one of the creatures, armed, and held the other children atop the World Trade Center at bay. Now, however, the case is complicated. Details were always sketchy at best, but now we realize that you may have had a greater hand in it than you might have indicated."

Jin hated the chairman at that moment. He despised him for revealing his secret. It was his secret to share, not the world's to flaunt. Now, they all knew it. They knew about him. They knew about Scarmon, would find out that he had been guilty, not an accomplice, but the mastermind, and they would keep him there for another six years.

"Well, would you care to confirm or deny this?"

Jin kept quiet. If they wanted to condemn him, let them do it. He wouldn't lie, but he wouldn't give them the whole truth. He would let them judge for themselves.

The chairman sighed. "That's not surprising. There's been a code of silence among Digidestined. Even native children such as Michael Washington have not been totally forthcoming with details until confronted. Still, this council recognizes the good that you and your comrades have done and are capable of. We have counted four children on the tower that night, but five creatures. We believe that you helped to defeat the odd, offending creature and, when captured, you allowed yourself to be imprisoned for the sake of keeping the identity of the others a secret."

Jin kept still, but was reeling from this conclusion. _"Willis,"_ he thought. _"They don't know that Willis has two digimon. They think one of his was mine and that we were trying to stop Carnagemon!"_

"Anything you'd care to add?" the chairman asked.

Jin shook his head.

The chairman turned to the woman next to him. "What do you think?" he whispered.

"He seems fine, but I worry about the notes of the hall's psychologist," she answered. "He has issues. Anger issues, guilt issues, and he seems easily prone to depression and violence. And then there are those apocalyptic dreams he's been complaining about."

"But do you think he's stable?"

She thought for a moment. "Yes, I think so. His therapist seems to think so. He's got a good head on his shoulders, but he's a little unpredictable. If he can keep out of trouble, I guess he's harmless."

He turned to the man on his other side. "What about you?"

"I wish he'd say more about the night he fell off the WTC," the man whispered. "I'd feel a lot better if he'd say something about it."

"But you know how these kids are: they never talk about it unless they have to. I think he still thinks he needs to protect the others. Maybe he does. Do you really have doubts that he is who he says he is?"

The man thought a moment. "No, I guess not."

"Anything else you want to say, son?"

Jin thought for a moment. "Yes, sir," he said. "I've done some things I wasn't proud of. A lot of the time, I'm a little sorry I survived falling off that building. But I'm going to try my best if I can go free. I promise you, I will try to act with honor."

The board had one last quick discussion among themselves. They looked once more at Jin, then at his file. The chairman considered the situation very carefully, and Jin sat there feeling like he was going to explode unless they made their decision quickly. Finally, however, the chairman chose one of the stamps and loudly imprinted two words upon his file: PAROLE GRANTED.

* * *

"And this," said the hostel manager, "is your bed."

"Thanks," Jin told the manager, named Miss Fine. "I think I'm going to like it here."

"I hope so," Miss Fine replied warmly. "I'll let you and your friends unpack. Let me know if you need anything."

Jin looked up to Mimi who smiled proudly at him. He returned the smile and said, "Home Sweet Home." She and Michael had arrived shortly after his parole and had ridden on the bus with him to the St. Augustine's Youth Hostel in downtown New York. The place was a little shoddy and he shared a bedroom with several other children, his bed being the last in a long row. Still, there was a dresser, plenty of bathrooms, and, best of all, a window. It wasn't much but it was far better than a juvenile hall.

"Oh, Jin, I'm so proud of you!" Mimi squealed, hugging him. "And so is Michael!"

"Yeah. Uh-huh. Proud," Michael said begrudgingly. Michael truthfully couldn't think of anyone he disliked less than Jin, and he had tried. First of all, there was the cozy relationship he and Mimi had, and he was more than a little bit jealous of it. Then there was the kind of person Jin was: a gun-toting delinquent from Japan who abused his strength and his digimon for his own selfish desires. Finally, and most importantly, Jin had tried to kill him not once, but twice; first by nearly strangling him in an alley and then by almost throwing him off the WTC during their fight. As far as he was concerned, there were some people who deserved to be in jail, and Jin qualified.

Still, for the sake of Mimi, he tried to be nice. "So, you have a lot of black and gray clothes in your suitcase," he said, making polite conversation.

"Beats an orange jumpsuit," he chuckled. "By the way, thanks for the flowers," he added, thinking, _What kind of idiot gives an ex-con flowers?_

"Well, I guess you'll want to get acquainted with your new home, so maybe Mimi and I—"

"Actually," Jin interrupted, "I need your help, if that's okay."

"Of course!" Mimi said. "We'll be willing to help however we can, right Michael?"

"Sure," Michael said through clenched teeth. "What do you want?"

"I want to find Scarmon again," Jin said. "He said he's been living in the abandoned subway tunnels last time I saw him, so I might need a little help getting around."

"Don't worry," Palmon spoke up. "I'm sure we'll find him. With Betamon and I, we'll get you through anything."

"Right!" Betamon piped up, drawing a glare from Michael.

"Thanks," Jin replied, digging out his digivice. "I should be able to use this to find him." He took it out and examined it. He noticed a faint dot on the screen.

"What's it say?" Palmon asked.

"He's near," Jin answered.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm actually down here," Michael complained, wrinkling his nose in disgust. These abandoned subway tunnels were revolting. Dirt and garbage littered the floor and homeless people eyed them greedily as they walked by. Mimi was holding her nose, but seemed not to notice the stares they were getting. He was glad the digimon were close by. He couldn't believe anyone would choose to live down there, but then decided that it figured that Jin's partner would choose it for home: a scummy, rotten place for a scummy, rotten digimon.

"Look on the bright side," Jin grunted, pushing extra hard. "At least you don't have to worry about getting stuck in anything."

"Yeah, but this is pretty gross," Mimi remarked. "I hope we find Scarmon soon. I think I just saw a rat."

"You did, it's right over there," Jin said, pointing.

Mimi shrieked when she saw it and hugged Jin tightly, shutting her eyes in fear. Michael nearly exploded. Why did she go to Jin? He was there, wasn't he? At least she didn't have to crouch to hug him!

The signal on Jin's digivice became stronger and he led them to a tunnel dimly lit by light filtered from the streets above. He rolled to the end of it and found several stacked boxes and a neat pile of bones and burger wrappers.

"Scarmon?" Jin called cautiously.

"About time you got here!" the little black lizard exclaimed, poking his head from one of the boxes.

"Scarmon!" Jin cried.

"Buddy!" Scarmon hollered, leaping into his lap. "You made it!"

"Yeah, I made it," he said, hugging his partner tightly. "They paroled me today. I brought some friends along, too."

Scarmon looked and saw Mimi, Michael, and their respective partners. "Hey, good to see you Mimi, Palmon!" he greeted them.

"Good to see you too!" Palmon exclaimed.

He then turned to the other pair. "Michael. Betamon."

"Scarmon," they said coldly in unison.

"Enough greetings!" a new voice declared. "The time has come for seriousness!"

Mimi's eyes went wide as a new figure floated out from the shadows. "Pixiemon!" she cried, running to the small, pink digimon and embracing him.

"Nice to, oof!, see you, oof!, too!" he choked, nearly crushed by the affectionate girl. "Now please let me go before I suffocate."

"Oops. Sorry!" she apologized, releasing him.

"Who's this guy, Scarmon?" Jin asked.

"I am Pixiemon, yep-yep!" he declared with pride.

Jin looked at the diminutive, cheerful puffball and made a face. "Scarmon, you did try to eat him, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good boy."

_"Ahem!"_ Pixiemon interrupted irritably. "More respect you should have!"

"Pixiemon trained me and the other original Digidestined and saved us from the Dark Masters, Jin," Mimi explained. "He was deleted, but it looks like he was finally reborn!"

"And it took me a long time to get back to my old self, but I'm finally here, and just in time, too!" Pixiemon added.

"Why's that?" Michael asked curiously.

"Because I have a very important mission to give you," he replied. "Tell me, all of you, have you been having a certain nightmare, over and over again?"

All six confirmed it with their mutual looks of surprise.

"A dream of a world destroyed, everyone but you dead, and the one that caused it, the red-eyed creature of shadows, comes for you at the end?"

All of them looked to each other, then nodded.

"Well, I have bad news for you," he continued. "It is no dream. It is a future of what may be. That creature is real and he is out there right now!"

Michael swallowed. "What's the good news? Or is there any?"

"Oh, there is good news!" Pixiemon told them. "The spirits of the Digital World have given me a message and told me to pass it to you! You three, and some allies that will soon join you, will meet this enemy and face him. Together with your combined strength, you just might be able to stop him!"

"Whoa, hold it!" Jin spoke up. "I just got out of prison! I just got back together with Scarmon and now you want us to fight?"

"Yes," Pixiemon affirmed. "All of you are needed."

"And what if we refuse?" Jin demanded.

Pixiemon flew up and looked him right in the eyes, his voice serious. "If you don't, then both Earth and the Digital World will suffer the same fate: both will be swept clean of all life, left utter wastelands, and both will be destroyed."

* * *

On a deserted highway, around midnight, Abner Westmore drove his pickup truck towards the nearest town. Soon he would be able to rest. He had business to take care of, then he could head home to his family. He was getting a little tired and fought to keep his eyes opened. Then, to the side of the road, he saw a fire flaring up from the ditch. A man appeared in front of him waving his arms in the headlights trying to flag him down. Abner stopped the car and got out.

"Mister, you've gotta help me!" the man cried hysterically. "My car crashed! It's on fire and my daughter's inside! I need your help to get her out!"

Abner nodded and ran towards the flaming car at the side of the road. Only once he got down there did he realize that there was no car: there was only a bonfire, with a tire on it to produce more black smoke.

"What the…?"

"Sorry 'bout that," the man said. "But I need your truck."

"What?" Abner exclaimed, whirling around to face the man. He backed up in fear as the stranger lunged forward, grabbing his shoulder in an iron grip.

"Besides," he giggled, "I haven't killed anything in almost a day," and rammed his fist through Abner's ribcage.

Walking back to the truck, a dark energy burning the blood from his hand, he smiled jovially. "You're lucky," he addressed the remains of his victim. "You should be glad you didn't live to see what is coming. You'd pity the Digidestined." He got in the truck and turned the ignition. He spoke again, and the twang of his southern accent was gone. "Yes, I'm going to do some truly awful things to them. Their agonized shrieks for mercy will be the prelude to the end of your world."

**To be continued…**

_(Next time: The heroes have been called, but the Ancient Enemy is already a few steps ahead of them...)_


	2. Setting the Stage

**Chapter Two:**

**Setting the Stage**

His mind was a jumbled mess. There was some order in there, but not in the sense of rational thought. He had the ability to make choices and could think about things rationally, so he could be considered sane. Then again, he acted without reason, constantly fulfilling a role that he had never chosen, so he could be considered insane. He considered himself neither. Those labels meant nothing to one who had only one purpose. That goal, that urge, that ultimate purpose drove everything he did, and it was simple: to destroy.

How many digimon had met their ends at his hands? And how many places had been laid to waste by his power? And how many years had he gone on, marching to the beat of a drum that only he heard and that all others could only wonder about helplessly?

Well, he was old. Very old, in fact. Ancient beyond any other creature in the Digital World, that was certain. Then again, he could only be considered old if one accounted for how many times he had been reborn the same way. Yes, he had been reborn in Primary Village for millennia. This body was not so old, though. He had only been in this body for… what was it? A few decades, maybe? He had first ventured to Earth seven years ago, so he was at least that old.

It was the First Crossing, as they called it. When the first few digimon crossed from the Digital World to Earth, the doorway had been momentarily opened and he, always the opportunist, had ventured out to seek more things to destroy. In Japan, there had been the Agumon and Parrotmon incident in Heighten View Terrace. And in Colorado, that young Willis boy had become one of the world's first Digidestined with his twin digimon. And he, too, had crossed over, not seeking a human partner to share energy with, but the malevolent energy he needed to grow strong. He was not disappointed; there was enough to build him up to be more powerful than ever before. Here, among the humans, he had grown strong. There was much energy to be had, and even greater numbers of things to kill.

There was no doubt about the resilience of both worlds, however. Earth and the Digital World had both faced numerous threats these last few years. The Dark Masters had warped the Digital World into their own private domains, yet fell once divided before the Digidestined. Apocalymon, now there was a truly twisted creature. Misery and Resentment made flesh, he had really brought true evil and power to the table. And yet he, too, was destroyed. No other digimon shared as much with him as Apocalymon, for both were single-minded, born behind the wall of fire. And then there was Myotismon. Now that was an admirable digimon: defeated twice, only to come back each time. Such will, such tenacity, such relentless cruelty! Still, he'd made the mistake of allying himself too deeply in Dark Energy, relying on it to make him strong, but not realizing how it would scatter before the light.

He was not like Myotismon, however, and he always learned his lessons. He was not wielding Dark Energy or any other kind of energy but that which came naturally to him. It was derived from a certain source, that was certain, but he was only as strong as his victims were weak. And his victims were everyone, all beings in both worlds, feeding him the energy he needed to kill them all.

Those names, those great evil digimon, all had one thing in common and he was no exception: the Digidestined.

Yes, that was the trade off of this. The two worlds were coming together, sharing with one another. He was able to use the humans to his advantage, but there was no clearer example of the two worlds helping each other than the Digidestined. Those guardians of both worlds were the biggest stumbling block ahead of him. He could hide from digimon on Earth, if necessary, and he could hide from humans on the Digital World, but both were accessible to the Digidestined.

He was familiar with them. He had faced them before. Some of the very first, in fact, although they didn't have such a name in those days. Yes, years ago, he remembered facing them. There were no Mega digimon at that time. Only Ultimates existed, not counting creatures like Azulonmon, and he had been one of the most powerful. And then those digimon had shown up. There was another presence with them. Not a physical one, but it was as though some great forces were behind each of them. They digivolved and managed to defeat him. And then they had left, mysteriously as they came. He hadn't learned until much later what had really happened. All the recent news this year had made it clear.

Those first Digidestined lived on Earth, communicating with their partners through TVs, video games, and computer screens. Talking, urging, transferring energy to make them strong. He hadn't been prepared for them, but now he knew how dangerous they could be. There were those first few, what were they called? Ah yes: Hirogi Hida was one, father of one of the new Digidestined. And Yukio Oikawa, whose disconnection from the Digital World led to his misery, his possession by Myotimson, and ultimately, his role as a new guardian force of the Digital World.

Yes, those Digidestined had been strong, yet they were nothing compared to today's children. And there were so many of them, and he knew, no matter what they did, they would come for him.

But there were only five that would face him, and those were the ones that he was waiting for. All others would be mere interference, and he wasn't going to let them meddle.

There were actions to be taken. If he took the necessary precautions, there was no reason that he could not win this battle. There were only a few that were meant to face him, and they would have to work alone, without interference with the others. And he would need help himself, to speed things along and to test these children to see how good they truly were. Boy Scout's motto: "Be Prepared."

He chuckled at that last thought. The idea of him as a Boy Scout! No, he wouldn't be helping old ladies cross the street; he would be slaughtering those children like livestock, and he would enjoy every minute of it.

* * *

Staring up at the ceiling, Vademon found himself hoping that it would suddenly cave in on him and end this tedium.

He had come to this place, this penitentiary in the jungles of Server, several years ago. He regretted that day, so long ago, when that little winged freak DemiDevimon came to him with a proposition. That Digidestined, Izzy, who had given up his curiosity and who had nearly become his victim, was also responsible. Indeed, it was the Digidestined in general, poking around where they shouldn't have belonged. They were the reason his precious pocket reality, his own little universe, was destroyed. After the Dark Masters were defeated and the Digital World returned to normal, he had been charged with working with Myotismon and sentenced to twenty years in prison. It had been about four years now, staring up at this ceiling in this tiny, metal cell, and he was already going nuts.

It was a mistake! He was just trying to make a living! Instead, he'd almost gotten himself killed. He supposed the Digidestined thought he was dead, and, locked up as he was, he might as well be. Oh, there were others that got off lucky, like Digitamamon. He was paid to hold up those kids and he got to keep his restaurant, while poor Vademon was stuck in this cell, his perfect mind going to waste.

"If I ever get out of here, I'll get my revenge on those brats," he swore to himself, much as he had every day for the past year. "They think I'm dead, but I'll let them know exactly what they did to me. Even if they did save this world, it was not my problem to begin with. I had my own little reality, my tiny dimension, and they took it from me!"

"Shut up in there!" one of the guards yelled at him through his door.

"You arrogant Rookie punk!" he spat. "If this steel wasn't between us, I'd show you just how powerful an Ultimate could be against the likes of a physical and intellectual weakling like yourself!"

"You're a pushover with out your beam gun, ya large-headed geek!" the guard laughed. "Now keep it down or we'll put you in an even smaller cell!"

He sighed and sat down once again upon his slender, tentacle-like legs. Sure he wasn't the toughest digimon in the world, but he was definitely the smartest. He was certain of that and his various devices more than made up for his lack of physical strength. If he could get his gun back, he would blast that guard back to Primary Village before he knew what hit him.

He was about to lose himself in more thoughts of delicious vengeance when he was jolted onto his back. Outside, there had just been an earth-shaking explosion. He went to the slit of a window he had and looked outside. One of the guard towers had been completely destroyed and the smoking rubble was scattered all over the prison yard. The guards, a collection of Guardromon and Mekanorimon rushed at the woods just outside the prison wall. Launching grenades and twin beams at whoever it was, it appeared that whoever had been so bold as to attack the prison was done for. However, as they all rushed into the thick jungle, there was explosion and every guard that had rushed into the trees was thrown out upon the yard. Immediately afterwards, what looked like a beam of pure black, like the fabric of the midnight sky itself, blasted from the jungle, blasting the trees nearby to splinters and scorching the fronds of the jungle plants to ashes. The beam hit a Mekanorimon dead on and it shattered into tiny shards before deleting, plowing through it and seven other digimon behind it like they were tissue paper. They were deleted so quickly that if he had blinked he wouldn't have even seen their destruction. Then something else dashed out from the flaming jungle, towards the prison and out of his view.

He stepped back from the window when his cell shook as if in an earthquake. He fell over and couldn't even stand as thunderous explosions racked the cell. He heard horrible screams and sounds of destruction as the attacker ripped through the prison. He couldn't tell where it was, but it sounded like it was trying to simply destroy the entire building and everyone in it. He ducked and covered his head, cowering in a curled up ball.

Then, quite suddenly, the noise stopped. All he heard was the sound of the roaring fires in the jungle nearby.

"Are you going to cower in that cell all day?" someone asked, startling him.

"What? Who are you?" he demanded fearfully.

"I'm the guy who has your ticket to freedom," the stranger said. He then realized that whoever it was stood right outside his cell wall. He went to the window, but couldn't see him.

"What do you mean? Are you hear to rescue me?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure, sure," the stranger said. "I'll have you out of there in a jiffy, my large-brained invertebrate friend, as long as you agree to do me a favor."

"What _kind_ of favor?" Vademon asked.

"Oh, you'll want to do this one," he chuckled. "I want you to help me fight the Digidestined."

Vademon was interested, but still wary. "The last time I helped someone do that, I ended up in here. What makes you so sure you can fight and win?"

The stranger gave a good-humored laugh. Then, in an even, sharp voice that made his skin crawl, he gave him a single order: "Look into my eyes."

The stranger brought his eyes to window and stared into his, as if he could see the dark recesses of his twisted soul.

Vademon screamed and backed up the door, lost before the devastating eyes of this monster. "Don't kill me!" he begged. "Please! Don't kill me!"

"Come on now, who am I?" he chuckled. "You know the answer right?"

"You're… you're the… the Dark One!"

"Well, that's not my favorite one of my nicknames, but it's one of them," he acknowledged. "Anyway, don't be afraid. I'm not here to kill you. I'm here because I need someone of your intellectual talents to do me a little favor. Help me out and the lives of all Digidestined will get a lot more complicated. It will make them much more vulnerable and easy for me to deal with."

Vademon swallowed. "What if… what if I don't help you?"

The stranger laughed mirthlessly. "Have you ever wanted to know how much pain you can endure before you actually die from it?" he asked.

Vademon felt his blood turn to water and wobbled uneasily on his tentacles. "No," he squeaked.

A huge hand blasted right through the thick steel and seized him around his scrawny neck with icy, merciless fingers. "Then why don't you keep it friendly and _cooperate,_ okay?"

Vademon nodded emphatically.

"Good," he said, releasing him. "Well, let's get you out of there so you can get to work."

A mere moment later, the entire wall of the cell was ripped clean away, thrown aside like it was a pebble.

Vademon stepped outside, shaking at the impressive display and looked around. He looked back to the prison and saw that the entire building had been completely destroyed, the walls ripped down and reduced to piles of rubble. Every cell had been destroyed and he realized that he was the only survivor of the Dark One's attack.

"You destroyed… the entire prison? And all the guards and inmates as well?"

"Of course," he replied matter-of-factly.

"Why?"

"I had some time to kill, I had some digimon to kill. Why not?"

Vademon shivered again and turned to get a look at his benefactor. He gawked at the sight.

"Why, you're a… you look like a…"

"I know what I look like," he said. "But I'm not what you think. This is just a little disguise that helps me get around in the human world and it will be perfect for getting me close to the Digidestined."

The Dark One chuckled and Vademon found himself laughing as well. "You… you really intend to destroy them?"

"And you're going to help me," he added. "You get your revenge and my protection, and I get to eliminate the last obstacle between me and my destiny. It's a win-win situation, eh?"

Vademon nodded, smiling cruelly. "How can I serve you, Master?"

The Dark One handed him a piece of paper, which he quickly examined. "These are the schematics for an advanced satellite system created by some of the Digital World's top scientists. It was intended to be a way to stabilize energy fields across the planet. It was abandoned with the onslaught of evil digimon like the Dark Masters, the Digidestined serving the purpose of guarding this world. However, the system is still in place. You, Vademon, are going to go to the nearest control station, a mere twenty miles away, and hack into that system and use it to cover the digital world with a new energy. Something more… _conducive_ to our purposes."

"What energy is that?"

He then took out a small box, latched shut. Snapping the latches open, he lifted the lid and displayed the object inside to Vademon. It was a small, spherical orb with a polished, smooth surface. It was no larger than a softball, and it was covered with black, white, purple, and gray swirls like a marble. An eerie violet light emanated from it, and just looking at it captivated him. It filled him with a sense of unease, but it also drew him to it and his hand unconsciously crept towards it.

"Oh no you don't!" the Dark One said with a laugh, shutting the box, snapping Vademon back to his senses. "This is a Dark Core; a concentration of dark energy that I spent a long time creating. This is your power source, but you can't touch it, not directly. You can't control its power and touching it would probably kill you. Got that?"

"Of course," Vademon responded, bowing respectfully to his new leader.

"Your allegiance will serve you well in the times to come," the Dark One told him. He then handed him a small, familiar object. "Yours, I presume?"

"My Beam Gun!" Vademon cried.

"Well, now that you've got your toy back, you should get moving. Eliminate anyone that gets in your way and wait for me to contact you in a few days. Don't leave that station until then."

"I see," Vademon said. "But what will this all do? What purpose will spreading out this energy serve?"

"Oh, you'll find out," the Dark One laughed. "I'd love to stick around and chat, but I have some kids to torment. I'll be expecting them very soon, so just be patient. You and I are gonna have a good time."

* * *

He opened his eyes. He was back on Earth now. Vademon was probably on his way by then. And the Digidestined? Well, these precautions would bring them out of hiding. There would be no confusion, but he still had some work to do. As far as he knew, there weren't any Digidestined in Texas, but there was a good possibility that they were here. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he had a gut feeling that they were near. They were near and they would cross his path very soon.

The stage had been set. Now, this show as old as the Digital World itself was going on once again and he had never felt so sure that this time the ending would be in his favor.

He would be ready. All that remained was for the Digidestined to make their move and for him to be there to crush them all.

**To be continued…**

_(Next Episode: Mimi, Michael, and Jin contemplate their new task and the search for new allies takes them north of the border, but is their adversary three steps ahead of them?)_


	3. Wai, Canada!

**Chapter Three:**

**Wai, Canada!**

As Jin was lying in bed back at the hostel that night, he couldn't get to sleep. Scarmon slept peacefully at the foot of the bed. They had agreed that tomorrow he would introduce Scarmon to the other kids, which worried him, but not as badly as the things Pixiemon had said.

There, in the tunnels, they had all received their mission. The three of them were supposed to save the world.

All three had reacted with fear, but each had taken it differently.

* * *

"Mimi, Palmon," Pixiemon said, "you've already helped save the world once. I'm sorry to ask you to save it again, but we need your help!"

Mimi and Palmon looked at each other and shared a determined nod. "If it's to help the world," she said with a smile, "then of course we'll help!"

That was no surprise; she had helped save the world before, and knew firsthand how important it was to fight for something so vital. She would do it for her friends and her family, because those were the most important things to her.

Michael had accepted as well, but with much more reluctance.

"I've never done anything like this," he said. "Betamon and I have helped protect New York before, but... the whole world? And the Digital World?"

"Michael," Betamon said, "don't worry! We can do it together!"

Still looking unsure, he turned to Mimi who was looking at him with concern, and suddenly his reluctance seemed silly. How could he be squeamish about it when Mimi accepted it so readily. Would he really let her go off without helping? No, he had a job to do to both her and the Digital World. It was his duty.

"Betamon's right," Michael said finally. "You have our word."

Jin was the only one who had said no.

"I can't do it!" he'd said. "No way. There's no way I can go on another adventure like this."

"But you must!" Pixiemon insisted. "Didn't you hear me? The world is at stake!"

"You've got to find someone else," he protested. "I just got my digimon back," he began, patting Scarmon on the head, "I just got out of juvenile on parole and I'm trying to turn my life around. I don't want to go back to hunting down evil digimon. And, in case you didn't notice, my legs are paralyzed!"

"You don't understand," Pixiemon insisted. "The bond between you and Scarmon makes you a fine team and the two of you can use it to fight better. Besides, your weakness is not your handicap; it is your belief that you cannot overcome your own shortcomings that hold you back."

"Yeah, Yoda, that's real great advice and everything," Jin snorted, rolling his eyes, "but I doubt it'll help much. I'll only slow the others down in this wheelchair and we'll get stuck the very first time we come to a steep hill or a pile of rocks! Not only that, in case you forgot, I'm on _parole._ Does that mean anything to you? If I leave New York or miss one meeting with my parole officer, I go back to prison."

Pixiemon had only narrowed his eyes, saying, "You have been chosen, Jin. I can't make you fulfill your destiny, but the time will come when you have to make a choice. When your hand is forced, what will you decide?"

That was what had happened. He had only sighed, saying that he would think about it. What really killed him, though, was the look in Mimi and Michael's eyes. There was a look of contempt, and also of pity. They thought he was afraid and thought it was unfair for him to protest when they had already said yes.

And that wasn't all. He had muttered something else that Pixiemon heard and it caused him the most worry of all.

"Well, even if we do fight, we can still win," he'd reasoned. "Palmon can digivolve to her Ultimate form and Scarmon up to Mega. No problem, right?"

"No, that's not right!" Pixiemon had yelled. "Palmon can digivolve that high, but you, Jin can no longer help Scarmon evolve with that Crest."

"Why not?"

"Because it is the Crest of Rage," Pixiemon replied, his tone grave. "This is a mission to bring light against the darkness, but the Crest of Rage itself draws on dark emotions. It can only bring more misery. You no longer wish to embody the trait, which is good, but you must control your anger. If your rage ever controls you again, Scarmon might be able to digivolve, but you would be a new problem for both worlds. You remember what you were like, don't you?"

Jin looked into Mimi's eyes and saw the fear that was there. He never wanted her to see him that way again. He had been a monster. He couldn't do that again. Even if it meant that Scarmon could only digivolve to his Champion level, he could not use the Crest of Rage ever again.

"Yes," he said quietly. "I remember."

"Then you understand," Pixiemon nodded. "If you ever want to use that Crest again, you must find a way to purify it."

"And how do I do that?"

"By purifying yourself," was the enigmatic answer.

* * *

Lying in bed, Jin thought long and hard about all of it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to do it even when he thought Scarmon could digivolve higher. Now that he knew he couldn't, he felt even less certain. If he went, would he get in trouble, end up back in jail, away from Scarmon and Mimi? Or worse: what if he went and neither of them came back alive. He didn't think he could live with that. But if he didn't go, would they be all right without him? Would his not going really mean that both worlds would be destroyed? Nobody had ever needed him to do anything. He'd been unnecessary, unwanted, and superfluous since the day he was born and now here was Destiny, finally asking for his help when he least wanted it.

"Stupid Digital World," he muttered, rolling over in bed. "I've paid my dues for it already. Why do I…" he stopped, grumbling about the hard situation ahead of him. "Crap," he sighed, giving up and going to sleep.

* * *

Half a world away, Tai Kamiya was knocking on his friend Izzy's door. He was worried, but confused. Izzy had called that morning, saying that he needed him to come over immediately, that the rest of the Digidestined would be there, and that it was very important.

"Tai!" Izzy exclaimed, opening the door. "I'm glad you're here! We've got a huge problem!"

"What's up, Izzy?" Agumon asked. "Why did you need both of us to come? I was in the middle of a nap when you woke us up."

"I thought you said you were doing homework," Izzy said, raising an eyebrow at Tai.

"You ought to know better," Tai shrugged, grinning. "So what's going on?"

"We have a problem!" Izzy shouted.

"So you said," Tai reminded him. "What is it?"

Izzy pulled them both inside. In his room, gathered around his computer were the others. Even Kari was there, and he was struck by how upset she looked. The digimon looked particularly stressed, which made Agumon extremely nervous.

"Hey everyone!" Tai greeted brightly, trying to ignore their depression and his own doubts creeping in.

"Tai, this is serious," Matt told him. Tai noticed that Sora was holding his hand and he squeezed it reassuringly. He felt a momentary pang, but put it out of mind, reminding himself that they were both his friends and he was glad they were both happy.

"Well, what is it?"

"As you know," Izzy began, "ever since Oikawa revitalized the Digiworld, the digiport has worked for all Digidestined. It used to be only accessible by those of us with D3s, but now any digivice works."

"Yeah, I know. Agumon, Kari, Gatomon and I just went there yesterday."

"Well, have you tried it today?" Joe asked.

"No."

"Oh, that's just great!" Yolei exclaimed. "Well, we might as well get this over with!"

"Don't talk like that," Ken said, quieting her. "Maybe Tai will have better luck than us!"

Tai looked around. "Better luck with _what?"_ he asked impatiently.

Izzy sighed. "Try to open the digiport, Tai."

Tai shrugged and held his digivice up the screen. "Digiport open!" he commanded. The gate clicked, gave a short beep, but otherwise did nothing else.

"What the... it didn't open?" Tai breathed. "Let me try this again: Digiport open!" Again, a click, a beep, and then nothing.

"Okay, I'm all for Yolei's plan of panicking," Joe said uneasily.

"What happened?" Cody asked. "Why can't any of us open it up, Izzy?"

"I'm not sure why," he replied. "It might be just a glitch, some kind of natural event in the digital world, like a solar flare or something that keeps the gates closed. I know it's not my computer, we've all checked several different ones with the same result."

"Or it could be that some new creep in the Digiworld is trying to keep us out!" Davis exclaimed angrily.

"Maybe, but there's no way we can tell unless we can find someone in the Digiworld to tell us," Sora added.

"Well, I'm trying to find some Digidestined who can open the port and find out," Izzy explained.

"Did you find anyone yet?" TK asked hopefully.

"No, not yet," he answered, shaking his head.

"So, you mean that there are no Digidestined in Japan that can get in?" Tai asked incredulously.

"Not one," Izzy told him. "I even tried the brand new ones, the kids that Oikawa implanted with the dark spores. They're stuck too."

"Have you tried the Digidestined in America? Mimi in New York?" Kari asked.

"No, I haven't sent out the call on the international mailing list yet, and that has the American Digidestined on it, including Mimi."

"I think you should do it," Kari said. "Please try them. I can't explain it, but... I have a hunch that they might have more luck than we're having."

Izzy was still confused, but he nodded. "All right. In the meantime, the rest of us should try to keep in contact, and keep trying to use the digiport until it works again."

* * *

Michael felt cold. In the real world, he was drenched in a cold sweat. But in his dream, he was in a much colder place.

Again it was the barren wasteland. The crater of New York rimmed with twisted metal and charred debris. All this destruction marked by a sickly, icy wind that made him feel like dying inside. Then came the coldest feeling of all, the creature with the red eyes right behind him. Pixiemon said his name was lost to the ages, that anyone who had learned his name was either destroyed or had never managed to preserve his name. Now, just as the name was gone, so was humanity. All of it was swept away, killed by this creature whose blood ran like ice. He turned, staring into his red eyes, and put up his arms before the Dark One fell upon him.

He normally woke up at that point. This time, however, there was a new sensation. It was not cold, but a slight chill. A warm sun punctuated the unseasonable summer cold. His vision cleared and he found himself on a street, in the middle of a small town split by railroad tracks and surrounded by pine. He couldn't tell where he was, but he felt a warm presence there. There was something… no, _someone_ there he needed to find. He could just sense them, that they were somewhere nearby and that he needed them. He heard a voice whispering to him, he could barely make it out, and it called his name.

_"Michael," _it said, _"come find me. I can help. Just go north."_

It was then that he woke up. Not with a start this time, but with eyes wide and a strong, intangible urge to go somewhere. Perhaps it was just the last image of the dream lingering with him, but he felt something very strong urging him that seemed much more real than a mere dream. Was that someone in that small town real? If so, perhaps he really did need to find them. Maybe that was whom Pixiemon meant. He had said that they would meet allies to help them, and maybe this person was one of them.

He went to his desk next to his bed. He had written down something Pixiemon had said to them. It was a prophecy that foretold of this enemy. Supposedly, it was written by the same Digiworld prophets that wrote the prophecy of VenomMyotismon. He read it aloud, trying to memorize it:

"The twice fallen demon king will fall a third and final time and the dream-seeker will usher in the time of peace. At the dawn of the age of the greatest peace, the two sisters will be as one. Out of the darkness will rise the Ancient Enemy. He hides in the light and strikes amid the union of the Two. To insure the Age of Peace, a group of warriors will meet the red-eyed beast. One ruled a kingdom; one is the son of a great hero; one is the bearer of light; one was the agent of darkness; one walks through walls of fire. When the battle is fought, the Two will come together, either in harmony or lost to eternal silence."

He sighed. He wasn't sure what it all meant. He thought he had figured out some of it. Myotismon was definitely the twice fallen demon king, while the dream seeker referred to Oikawa. Mimi had been a princess to the Gekkomon and Otamamon, so that meant she ruled the kingdom, and Jin obviously had to be the agent of darkness, but where did that leave him? He liked the idea of being the bearer of light, but he wasn't sure of that. The last one couldn't be him: he tried his best to never jaywalk; there was no way he could walk through walls of fire. Then there was the one about the "son of a great hero." Well, his father was no hero, and his mother was just a housewife.

Come to think of it, his father was just an actor. Right then he was out in California, promoting the new Iowa Smith movie—

He froze. Iowa Smith, the character his father played in all those movies, declared by many to be one of the greatest action heroes of the big screen: that was the 'great hero' that the prophecy meant?

"Weird," Michael said to himself. He went to kitchen, which was, like the rest of the house, enormous. He found it incredible that his family could be so rich and yet he never could find what he wanted for breakfast. That morning, he wanted oatmeal. Most of the staff had the day off, since Mr. Washington was gone. Only the chef and a few butlers were around the mansion. Mrs. Robins, the chef, was already waiting for him. "Good morning, Michael," she greeted him. "You look a little pale. Did you have a bad dream?"

"Yes, actually," he said. "Say, do we have any oatmeal?"

"No, sorry about that," she apologized.

"Figures."

"How about some poached eggs, no, an omelet, no, some quiche!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Michael exclaimed. "You always go overboard for me. I'll just pour myself some cereal."

"If you want," she said. "In the meantime, I'm going to make you the best dinner you ever ate for tonight!"

"Okay," he said, distractedly, looking for the cereal. "Hey, do we have anything besides bran flakes?"

"Too bland?" Mrs. Robins asked. "I could make something tasty! I just bought some Canadian bacon yesterday."

Michael wasn't sure what happened, but that one word, "Canadian" sucked at his mind, drawing out something.

"Excuse me," he said, moving back to his room quickly. He found Betamon awake, stretching on top of his bed.

"Betamon," he said.

"Michael," Betamon replied back. The two of them looked at each other and knew instantly. Both had dreamed the same thing. They both had the same urge and it was time to act on it.

"Michael, we have to go north," he said.

"To Canada," he affirmed.

* * *

"Well I… of course I'll help, but how?"

Mimi posed this question in response to Michael's request over the phone that morning. He'd called, saying he knew that there was a new Digidestined they had to find, but that they would have to get to Canada to find them. The only problem was getting there. Michael had thought to get someone around his house to drive him, but his father had strict rules about letting him go anywhere when he was out of town. He'd tried to explain things to the servants, but they had all turned him down, saying they couldn't do anything that would go against Mr. Washington's orders. Since he couldn't get in touch with his father in Hollywood (he wasn't answering his cell phone or his pager), Michael called the only other person he trusted with information like this: Mimi.

"Mimi, your parents trust you. Maybe they can give us a ride there."

"I'm sorry, Michael, but Daddy's got the car and he won't be back until later and my mom doesn't have a driver's license," Mimi told him. "Did you... try taking the car keys and sneaking out?"

Michael paused for a moment. "I did think about it," he replied, sounding a little ashamed of himself for even thinking of it, "but our chauffeur keeps the keys on him and the keys to the other cars are locked up in my father's office. I couldn't take one of the cars even if I'd wanted to."

"Maybe you should just tell the chauffeur that you're trying to save the world," Mimi suggested, trying to be helpful. "I bet he'd drive you then."

"I can't tell him something like that!" he cried. "If word got out that there was a killer digimon right here on Earth, it could cause a panic. We've got to keep this a secret. I mean, you didn't tell your parents, did you?"

"Well, no," Mimi admitted. "I didn't want them to worry."

"So, what do we do now?"

Mimi thought very carefully about it. Michael was right; this was important and they had to get to Canada as soon as possible. The less time they wasted here, the better. But who was this person they were looking for? How would they know how to find them? And where in Canada were they? It was, after all, a very large country with a lot of ground to cover. The first thing to do was to find a car.

"Hey, I know!" she exclaimed, the answer coming to her suddenly.

"You do? Great!" Michael laughed. He relaxed. He had known that Mimi would come through for him. Now that she had, he felt warm and comforted to know that she was with him. "So, what's your plan?"

"I'll tell you later," Mimi said. "Just let me call someone first and I'll take care of everything!"

With that, she hung up. Michael stared at the phone quizzically, but put it down and looked to Betamon, who had been watching as well.

"What's going on?" Betamon asked.

"I think Mimi knows someone to get us a car," Michael said. "I guess we'll have to wait and find out."

* * *

Jin sat in his wheelchair next to his bed. Standing on the bed was Scarmon, and all around them were a group of kids from around the hostel. When Scarmon had been discovered by one of them that morning it had taken almost no time at all for word to spread. Now they were all here to see a digmon up close and every one of them was inclined.

"So, what do you feed it?" one of them asked Jin.

"He feeds me the fingers of people who ask stupid questions," Scarmon snarled. While he realized that he had to satisfy their curiosity if he was going to stay there, he wasn't going to just sit by while they treated him like someone's pet.

"Wow, some attitude it's got there, Takamura," another commented.

"It?" Scarmon demanded.

"Scarmon is a 'he,'" Jin corrected the boy.

"Yeah, can't you tell?" Scarmon asked.

"So, does _he_ know any tricks?" asked a third one of them.

"Tricks? Tricks?" Scarmon shouted, now absolutely livid.

"You might want to stop treating him like a dog," Jin suggested, a little amused at the way the other kids treated his partner. "He's been known to maul things when he gets mad."

Another kid arrived and saw Scarmon for the first time. "Wow!" he exclaimed, pointing to the small digimon. "An iguana!"

Scarmon's narrowed his eyes. "That's it," he growled, and leapt forward, biting down on the boy's extended finger.

Jin watched with the other kids as the poor newcomer tried his best to get Scarmon to let go. He had a smile on his face and shook his head. This wasn't going as smoothly as he had hoped it would, but at least they were getting acquainted with the other kids. Eventually, the stupid questions would stop and they would be treated like the others. He hoped so, anyway.

"So, you're a Digidestined, right?" asked a new voice.

Jin turned to look and saw he was being directly addressed by a tall girl with straight dark brown hair trimmed short just above her neck. She was thin and had blue eyes that looked directly at him. She had red lips that were brought up into a smirk. She was wearing a white cotton tank top and black slacks with sandals. She seemed calmly amused by the whole scene, much as he was, and was the only one thus far that seemed as interested in him as she was in Scarmon. Jin froze as he was struck by how pretty she looked. He shook it off and tried to answer her question.

"Yeah, that's right," he replied. "Hi, I'm Jin Takamura."

"Nice to meet you," she said, shaking his hand. "I'm Shannon Smith. I'm here while my parents 'sort out some things.' You just got here yesterday, didn't you?"

"Yes, I just got out of prison," he said, immediately wincing.

"Oh really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, but otherwise not missing a beat.

"Uh-huh," he admitted.

"What were you in for?"

He thought frantically for a moment. "Burglary," he lied. "I stole wallets and gave the money to starving children in Queens."

She laughed. "You're funny," she told him. "But I already know why you were in juvenile hall. I just wanted to see what you were telling people. You don't need to pretend that you weren't a criminal around here. Lots of us were in juvenile hall." She sighed. "Or might end up there soon."

"So, you know about me?" he asked timidly.

"Yeah, I heard that you were arrested for possession of stolen weapons, but that you were really covering for the other Digidestined that helped you fight that monster that attacked the WTC. That was pretty noble of you, Takamura_-san_." She grinned as she added the Japanese suffix.

"Oh," he replied. "Well, uh… heh, it was nothing," he laughed nervously.

"So Scarmon is your partner and you are one of those kids that helps keep the world safe," she went on. "You know any other Digidestined?"

"A few," he said, feeling his heartbeat quicken, though he couldn't explain why.

Just then, Scarmon leapt onto his lap.

"Get tired of biting people?" Jin asked.

"Yeah," Scarmon replied, curling up in his partner's lap as Jin rubbed the sensitive scales along his neck. "Geez, that kid acted like I was going to eat him. I didn't even bite all that hard! I could have gotten to the bone if I'd wanted to!"

"Scarmon, this is Shannon," Jin told him, introducing him to his new friend.

"Nice to meet you," Scarmon replied, bowing his head politely.

"Well, he's polite," she said. "You know, you may be an ex-con, Jin, and Scarmon may be a finger-biting reptile, but you two are kind of cute together."

Jin turned bright red and felt his throat go dry.

"I—I— I— I've got to go!" Jin squeaked, and rapidly wheeled himself past Shannon and the other kids to the hallway outside, leaving them all to their confusion behind him.

"Hey, what was that all about?" Scarmon demanded. "I thought we were supposed to meet them!"

"I don't know," Jin replied truthfully. "I was just talking to Shannon and then she called me cute and… and…" Well, that was it, wasn't it? No girl had ever called him cute. Of course, he hadn't gone to a real school in ages, and he almost never was around people after he got out of the Digiworld, and there were no girls in the juvenile hall, either. Mimi was the only girl he'd really spent any time with and she was just a friend. Shannon was something new to him.

He cursed himself inwardly. He could stay cool in a fight with guys a foot taller than him when he couldn't even use his legs and he had been tough enough to survive in the Digital World for five years, but one girl called him cute and he turned into a blushing, stammering idiot!

"Hey, I know what this is about," Scarmon snickered. "You've got a crush on her!"

"I do not!" he denied vehemently, his face reddening again.

"You're blushing again!" he cackled. "You humans are ridiculous! One girl calls you cute and you fall to pieces!"

"Hey, I can handle it!" he protested. He relaxed, slowed his breathing, tried to calm his mind and not think about Shannon, no matter how pretty she was, and managed to resume his normal color.

"See?" he asked, snapping his fingers calmly. "Easy."

"Hey, what do you think kissing her would be like?" Scarmon asked, a huge grin on his face.

Jin turned bright red again. Scarmon laughed so hard he fell off Jin's lap and onto the floor.

"Oh, Jin, you're just who I was looking for," said the hostel director approaching him from up the hall.

"What is it?" Jin asked, still fuming as Scarmon continued laughing on the floor.

"There's a phone call for you at the front desk," she said. "Some girl named Mimi."

"Oh, you're hitting it with the ladies tonight, aren't you, Jin?" Scarmon joked, laughing even harder.

"Shut up," Jin said, and hauled Scarmon into his lap by his tail. He wheeled himself up to the front desk and answered the phone.

"Hello?" he answered. "Mimi?… You need what?… Yeah, I can, but… Well, I guess if it will help. Tell Michael I'll meet you both outside his house in about an hour… Yeah… Uh huh… Okay. Goodbye."

"What's going on?" Scarmon asked.

"Let's get my tools," Jin said. "We've got some work to do."

"Do I get to destroy something? I'm a little out of practice."

"Actually, yes you do," Jin replied. "Let's just make sure you keep quiet about it when my parole officer comes by this afternoon."

* * *

Michael stood outside of his house, glancing at his watch impatiently. It was about ten o'clock in the morning and Mimi still hadn't shown up. He tapped his foot as he waited, hoping that she wouldn't be too much longer. If he was going to get to Canada and back in one day, he'd have to leave soon. It was about six hours from New York to Montreal, and that was just the closest city. He had a suspicion that they wouldn't have to go much farther than Montreal, but he supposed he could be wrong. It might take even longer if this new Digidestined was hard to find. And that was the other thing: Mimi had no idea who this other person was; she'd had no dream about them at all, so maybe he was just seeing things. Still, he couldn't ignore his feelings on this, so he waited for his friend to show up.

"Look, Michael, there she is!" Betamon hollered.

Michael looked and saw that Mimi was indeed coming up the long drive and was again comforted by her presence. She flashed him a warm smile and waved at him and he grew calm in an instant. He was a little bit confused, however, when he saw that she wasn't riding in a car and had no one to drive them, but he supposed there might be someone out front.

"Hi, Michael," she said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes. Is the car outside?"

"No, but it should be here soon," she replied.

Just then, a large, white Cadillac came up the drive. It pulled right up to them and the window rolled down to reveal the driver.

"Jin!" Mimi squealed.

"JIN?" Michael shouted.

"Afternoon," Jin said, grinning at the two of them.

"Jin, you don't even have a driver's license! What are you doing in that car?" Michael demanded.

"Parking it," he replied, which only served to infuriate Michael further.

"Well," he said, calming himself, "at least you came through. It's a very nice car, too. In fact, my father owns one just like it."

"I know," Jin commented.

Michael looked at Jin's face, examining it closely. There was a smugness that he couldn't stand and, going on a hunch, he walked ahead of the car and read the license plate.

"Hey, this _is_ my father's Cadillac!" he exploded. "Jin, you thief! You stole my family's car!"

"Actually, _you_ are stealing this car," Jin replied. "I'm just the guy who hotwired it."

"Too lazy to just rent us a car or something?" he asked.

"Like I have that kind of money, rich boy?" Jin retorted, clearly annoyed. "And who are you calling lazy? It took Scarmon and me half an hour to knock out the guard at the front gate and destroy all the security cameras!"

"You what?" he cried. "You two managed to get past a state-of-the-art security system?"

"You've obviously never had to take out twenty Bakemon guarding a thieves' hideout before," Jin remarked. "This was a piece of cake."

"Jin, where is Scarmon anyway?" Mimi piped up.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Jin answered. "Since I couldn't use my legs to get it out of the garage, I had Scarmon take the pedals."

"Driving is fun!" Scarmon added, popping up from behind the window.

"Wow, you drove the car?" Palmon asked, impressed.

"Yeah, he calls 'gas' or 'brake' and I push on it. It took a little practice, but I got the hang of it," Scarmon told her proudly. "Oh, that reminds me. Hey, Mikey, I hope you don't mind, but we ran over your bike."

Michael just about turned purple, but he tried to keep his temper in front of Mimi. "Well," he grumbled, shaking as he tried to keep from yelling, "I guess it doesn't matter, since it was an accident."

"Uh, yeah. An 'accident.' Yeah, that's the ticket!" Scarmon commented.

"Well, let's get going!" Mimi exclaimed enthusiastically, oblivious as usual to how much Jin and Scarmon were enjoying the sight of Michael and Betamon as they fumed.

"Actually," Jin said, "I have to stay here. I've got a meeting with my parole officer this afternoon, so I can't come with you. You two will have to drive to Canada by yourselves."

"Just us?" Michael asked, suddenly lightening up. "You mean, Mimi, our partners and I? Not you and Scarmon?" The prospect of spending all that time with Mimi almost made him forget about his bike.

"Unless you had anyone else in mind," Jin replied. "Mimi, could you please get my wheelchair out of the garage? Oh, and take this," he added, handing her a small card. "I didn't have a picture of Michael, but I did have one of you, so I stopped by an old friend's and had him use a computer program to scan it and make you a fake driver's license. I figure that the guy at the border won't know how to judge a Japanese girl's age as well as an American's, so you'll have to drive that part of the trip to get all of you across the border. Just act natural, pretend that you're sixteen, and show him the license and you'll be fine."

"That's a great idea!" Mimi exclaimed. "I'll be right back! Isn't this great, Michael? We're going on our first summer road trip!"

Michael smiled as he watched her go. He had a feeling that he would enjoy this trip.

* * *

Two hours later, Michael was _not_ enjoying the trip. In fact, he was hating it. Mimi did most of the talking and he found himself tongue-tied. When he was just being himself, speaking to her was easy. When he was thinking of telling her how he really felt, thinking of asking her out, it became much more difficult. It had been easy when he had asked Yolei when they had first met, even though it had never happened. He supposed it was because she was a stranger and if she said no it wouldn't be any big deal. With Mimi, if she said no, it might mean she would stop treating him as a close friend. He just couldn't face that, so he kept his mouth shut and made small talk as best he could.

What was worse was the very experience of driving. He knew basically how to drive, but he had never actually done it before. It was a constant struggle when he'd tried to get out of the city and even now that he was out on the highways in upstate New York things were difficult. His father had always said the Cadillac drove like a dream, but for Michael it was an utter nightmare. The car was big and hard to manage. Whenever he moved the wheel, it felt like the unwieldy vehicle swerved wildly in that direction. The straight-aways of the road were okay, but any curves gave him a huge problem, especially at that speed. And if he crashed, it would mean three things: they wouldn't get to Canada any time soon, he would be in trouble when the police came and found out he stole his father's car, and then his father would ground him for several months for stealing and wrecking one of his favorite and most expensive cars.

"It sure was nice of Jin to get us this car," Mimi commented.

"Yeah," Michael grumbled sarcastically. "He thought of everything, didn't he? Except that I can't drive!"

"Well, it's been two hours. There's a gas station ahead, so we can refuel and I'll take over for you while you take a break," she suggested.

"Do we get to drive?" Palmon asked.

"No!" the two humans said in unison.

"Aw, no fair!" Betamon whined.

"Don't you think it would be a little weird if people saw a plant or a frog driving a car down the highway?" Michael asked. "We don't want to attract any unwanted attention."

"Really?" Betamon asked sarcastically. "I wouldn't have guessed by the way _you_ drive."

Everyone but Michael laughed as he pulled into the gas station. The whole party got out and stretched, Palmon and Betamon making sure no one was watching as digimon were still a new thing to most people, and refueled the car before Mimi took over.

"Ready?" Mimi asked.

Michael buckled and tightened his seatbelt, then took a deep breath. "Ready," he replied.

Mimi started the engine, moved the car to the exit, and then got onto the road. She drove a little ways and went up a ramp, then merged effortlessly into traffic. At the first turn, Michael and Betamon tensed up, but Mimi handled the turn easily and continued onward with ease.

"Wow, Mimi," Betamon breathed, impressed. "You're a pretty good driver."

"I told you! Pay up!" Palmon said, holding out her green hand to Betamon.

"Hey, Michael, can you spot me a five?" Betamon asked Michael from the backseat.

"You're a natural, Mimi," Michael said, ignoring Betamon. "I can't believe you're driving this well on your own for the first time!"

Mimi giggled. "Actually, this isn't my first time," she admitted. "Daddy takes me to parking lots early in the morning and I practiced there."

"But you're not sixteen!" Michael exclaimed. "You're not even fifteen yet!"

"Oh, don't worry so much," she hushed him. "Just let me do this and we can get to Canada in no time!"

Michael smiled. He supposed he was being a little too strict. It was a crime, which was bad, but then it wasn't a serious crime. After all, it was necessary. Not like Jin. He was a real criminal: someone who committed crimes for no real reason. He had learned how to hotwire a car somewhere, and he doubted that it had always been to help other people. Yes, he wasn't like Jin. Jin was just a common criminal.

"I'm really glad we got to go on this trip together, Mimi," Michael told her, his voice sincere and confident.

"So am I," she replied, and smiled.

He felt his heart skip a beat. He felt something pushing him forward and decided that this was the perfect moment. He would try to tell her how he felt now, in that moment.

"I'm just sorry Jin couldn't come with us," she added.

Michael went silent, his heart caving in for the second day in a row. "Yeah," he sighed. "Too bad." He didn't say anything else for another hour.

* * *

Jin relaxed as he came out of the office. The parole officer had wanted to meet with him privately and the director at the hostel had allowed them to use her office to meet. The officer was a man named Officer Gray. Gray had asked him a few questions, and Jin answered all but two of them honestly: "Have you met with any of your former associates with whom you engaged in criminal activity?" and "Have you committed any acts which might be considered criminal?"

Jin wondered if there was anyone who ever said yes to any of the questions, but he supposed it didn't matter. He had done what he needed to, and it wasn't hurting anyone. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't something wrong with him. He'd been a criminal since he was a small child, always stealing or gambling or defacing something or getting in fights since he was eight. It was a wonder he'd ever been picked as a Digidestined.

"How'd it go?" Scarmon asked as he returned to the communal bedroom.

"Fine, I guess," Jin shrugged. "I don't have to back to juvenile hall, so I guess I'm okay."

"Great," Scarmon said. Then, after a short pause, he reluctantly asked a question: "Jin, can we take a short trip to the Digital World?"

Jin was taken aback. He hadn't ever thought Scarmon would ask that question. The idea of going back to the Digital World was actually a bit intimidating, but he was curious as well.

"What for?" Jin asked.

"To tell the truth, I've been here on Earth for almost a year and I miss my world," Scarmon admitted. "I just wanted to take a break and see it for a while. I mean we don't have to, if you don't want—"

"Okay."

"Really?"

"Of course," Jin sighed. "I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to go back, but I know what it means to be homesick." Images flashed through his mind of all the times he had been homesick in the Digital World. He thought about all the times he had spent the night laying awake and looking at the stars, not being able to sleep because all he could think about was how he yearned to return home again. The wanting to see his home, the need to be back where he belonged was so overpowering that he could think of nothing else but getting back there. The worst torture had been on Spiral Mountain, when he had been able to look up and see Earth in the sky, so vivid before his eyes and yet he could never reach it. He never thought anyone should have to go through that; if Scarmon was homesick, he should get to see his home.

"We'll go for half an hour, okay?" Jin agreed.

"Okay!" Scarmon cheered and leaped onto the wheelchair's arm.

Jin rolled into the computer room, which was small and contained only four outdated computers, but it served their needs well enough. He held his digivice up to it and spoke the words that would open the gate. "Digiport open!"

The digiport appeared, beeped once, and opened wide.

"Where to?" Jin asked. "This looks like it's set to some pine woods."

"Nah, change the location to someplace warm," Scarmon said. "I want to find a rock to sun myself on."

Jin shrugged and used the keyboard to change the location. However, when he put in the command, he found that the location stayed the same.

"Hey, what gives?" Scarmon demanded.

"I'm not sure," Jin remarked, frowning. He tried several times to change the location, but found it was always the same. Normally, any digiport could take someone to any place in the Digital World. Now, however, it only displayed one location. Even when he tried closing and reopening the gate, the location was always the pine forest.

"This isn't supposed to happen, is it?" Scarmon asked.

"No, we should be able to go somewhere else," Jin answered. "I've got a bad feeling about this. Something tells me that this evil digimon we're supposed to be fighting just got the drop on us."

* * *

Michael looked at the sign as they passed it. It read "Roxanne" and listed the population number as 5,000 just below it. They had just crossed the Canadian border a short while earlier and hadn't had any problems, keeping Betamon and Palmon hidden in back while Mimi got them across the border. The fake I.D. had worked and all that remained was to keep going until one of them got a sign to stop.

Of course, Michael decided to take over for Mimi when she saw a sign displaying the speed limit as 100 and she gleefully sped up. After panicking and shouting at her that Canada used the metric system and it meant 100 _kilometers_ per hour, he assumed the wheel. They weren't sure which way to go, but flipped a coin between Toronto and Ottawa and settled on the latter. They missed their turnoff, so they looked on the map and found they could still get there if they took a road that led them through this small town named Roxanne.

They had only just entered the town when they came across their first obstacle.

"I don't believe this!" Michael exclaimed at the sight before him. The road went over some railroad tracks, but a huge train had derailed and fallen over. It appeared to be carrying logs and it didn't look like anyone was hurt, since there were a lot of people standing around looking at the train, but none of them seemed too concerned.

"Oh, that's just great!" Mimi sighed, irritable after being in the car for six and a half hours with only an occasional break. "Maybe we should turn around and try another way into Ottawa."

Normally Michael might have agreed, but the sight of the train tracks reminded him of something. He was getting a strong sense of Deja Vu and he realized his surroundings were reminiscent of the ones in his dream. He felt strangely compelled to go forward. Instead of turning around, he parked the car by the side of the road and got out.

"Michael?" Mimi asked curiously.

"I think we should help them," Michael said.

"That would be nice, but how?"

"Palmon and Betamon can digivolve and help put those cars back on the tracks in no time! There aren't very many and the two of them could do it if they work together."

"Michael, we can't do that!" Mimi cried. "What if they panic when they see our digimon? Almost everyone panics the first time they see one!"

"Well, maybe you're right," Michael said, "but I at least think we should go over there and see what's going on."

Mimi shrugged. "Okay," she relented. "At least I can get out of this car. After six hours even this Cadillac is stuffy."

Mimi got out and the two of them, holding their digimon as if they were stuffed animals, walked around the train and over to where the workers were scratching their heads thoughtfully.

"This is going to take forever if we don't get help soon," one of them said. "How much longer is she going to take?"

"Give her a break, she said she'd be here," said another.

"Hi!" Michael said. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Oh, thanks anyway, right, but we've got to—" he stopped in mid-sentence as he turned and got a good look at both of them. "Holy— Hey guys! We've got Digidestined here!"

Mimi and Michael both froze and Betamon and Palmon were so surprised that they stiffened, ruining the effect of being limp stuffed animals.

"You… you know about us?" Michael asked.

"Well, who doesn't?" asked the man, Michael guessed the foreman of the bunch. "But we've got a resident expert on Digidestined around here, so we all know a little bit. That's a… uh… a Palmon, right?" he asked of Palmon.

"Wow, he does know!" Palmon exclaimed, flattered that she was recognized as Mimi set her down.

"In fact," the foreman went on, "aren't you Mimi Tachikawa?"

"Why yes, I am!" Mimi giggled, unused to being recognized as well.

"And you are…" the foreman paused as he looked to Michael. "Well, now let's see… you've got blonde hair and blue eyes… oh, of course!…" he laughed.

Michael sighed and smirked as he awaited the recognition.

"You're Matt Ishida!"

Michael gave a start and almost fell over. "No, I'm Michael Washington!" he yelled.

"Like the actor?"

"He's my father," he grumbled, folding his arms.

"Hey," called another one of the men, "your old man is Michael Washington the actor?"

"Yes," he said.

"Do you know if the new Iowa Smith movie's going to be any good? He hasn't made one in a long time, don't you think he's getting a little old for it?"

Before Michael could defend his father, a siren was heard. Mimi and Michael at first thought it was a police siren, but, as it came closer, they realized that it had a distinct sound, different from a police car.

"Ah, she's here," the foreman said.

Looking up the road, there was a loud, rhythmic rumbling sound as something neared the corner. As it turned the corner and appeared, Michael and Mimi couldn't believe their eyes. Approaching them, running as fast as it could, shaking the ground as it ran, was a huge Frigimon. The snowman-like digimon was carrying someone, a girl, on his shoulder and she was holding a device with a megaphone attached to it that was emitting the siren sound.

When the Frigimon arrived, the girl hopped down and landed gracefully on her feet, only to lose her footing and land gracefully on her butt.

"Thank goodness you're here, Amanda!" the foreman said, helping her up while yelling over the siren that was still blaring.

"Sorry I'm late, sir!" she replied, saluting the man. "Hold on, just let me turn this stupid thing off!"

After fumbling with the loud device and not being able to turn it off for nearly a minute, during which the other men were holding their ears, an annoyed Frigimon snatched the device from Amanda, dropped it on the ground, and stomped on it, silencing it at once.

"Hey! What did you do that for?" she demanded.

"Don't worry, you can build another one," Frigimon comforted her.

"Not with the spare parts from that one!" she yelled, stomping her foot.

"Well, we're real glad you brought Frigimon to help us get the train back on track," said the foreman. "Literally."

"It is my duty as a Digidestined to help out my community, sir!" she stated proudly.

"Well, funny thing is, we've got a few kids here who happen to be Digidestined too," the foreman informed.

"Ooh! Really?" she cried gleefully. "Where are they?"

The foreman pointed her in Mimi and Michael's direction and the two of them finally got a good look at her.

Amanda was short, shorter than Izzy, Mimi thought. She was probably younger, too. She looked about 12 years old, if she had to guess. Her hair was black, straight and went down to her shoulders. She wore glasses with square, black-rimmed lenses that magnified her brown eyes. Her skin was pale she didn't seem to be wearing makeup. In addition, she wore a lightweight black jacket that looked a bit oversized on her. On one arm of it a patch with the Canadian flag was stitched with pride. She wore the jacket over a white t-shirt and she wore a gray skirt that, in contrast to the jacket, looked a little too short for her to wear. Finally, on her feet were a beat-up pair of black sneakers over white socks pulled tight.

Michael thought she looked very plain, probably considered a geek by her classmates, if he had to guess, but she seemed very energetic and had enthusiasm about everything she did. He couldn't help but smile as she practically bounced over to them.

"Oh my gosh!" she cried. "Mimi Tachikawa and Palmon!" She went up and shook Mimi's hand emphatically, then stopped herself, took a step back, and bowed rigidly in Japanese fashion (albeit quickly and not very well). "It's an honor to meet you."

"You know me?" Mimi asked.

"Sure!" she bubbled. Michael chuckled a little when he saw Frigimon roll his large, black eyes at his partner's giddiness. "I know all about you! I've been in constant communication with Koushiro Izumi, with Izzy, in Japan! I helped move the digimon out of Canada towards New York City last Christmas. And I was there when all the world's Digidestined went to the Digital World to stop MaloMyotismon, too! I said hi to you! Don't you remember me?"

Mimi shifted her eyes nervously.

"No, I guess you wouldn't," she sighed, momentarily deflated. Then, she immediately perked back up. "Oh well! You can meet me one-on-one now! My name is Amanda. Amanda Fabienne Giroux."

"Nice to meet you," Mimi said, shaking her hand.

_"Douzo yoroshiku,"_ she replied in Japanese. "I know a little, but not much," she said embarrassedly.

Mimi smiled. "Oh! I almost forgot!" she laughed. "This is Michael."

"Hmm?" she asked, turning her head. She froze when she saw Michael. A huge grin slowly spread across her face. _"Mon Dieu,"_ she breathed.

She walked over to Michael and took his hand shyly. "Well, hello there," she greeted him, raising an eyebrow mischievously at him. "And who are you?"

"My name is Michael Washington," he said. "It's nice to meet you."

"The Michael Washington from New York?" she asked. "Of course! I forgot that Mimi lives in New York now! You two must have come up here together!" She frowned at that thought. She looked back to Mimi. "Hey, he isn't your boyfriend, is he?" she asked uneasily.

Mimi just laughed. "No, of course not!" she giggled. Michael felt each of her laughs like a knife in his heart.

"Mmm, well, lucky for me," she said, resuming her smile.

"Uh, Amanda, we hate to interrupt," said the foreman.

"Oh fine! Don't let me talk with the blonde _bishounen_!" she pouted.

Michael was getting more nervous by the second, which wasn't helped when Betamon loudly asked what she was talking about.

"Well, we might as well help Frigimon with the train!" Palmon said decisively. _"Palmon digivolve to… Togemon!"_

"Same here!" Betamon said. _"Betamon digivolve to… Seadramon!"_

The workers all stared on impressively as the snowman, the gigantic boxing cactus, and the sea serpent worked together to set the train cars back on the tracks. Working together, the job was finished in less than ten minutes.

"Hey, thanks a lot, you kids!" the foreman thanked them. "You saved us hours of getting those things back into place!"

"Our pleasure," said Mimi warmly. The digimon then de-digivolved, leaving Palmon, Betamon, and a third, new digimon.

"This is my partner," Amanda told them. "This is Penguinmon."

Penguinmon was short and chubby with a slick coat of blue feathers and a large orange-yellow beak with blue on the tip. His thick flippers had red claw-like protrusions, as did his webbed feet. His belly was covered with white stripes like those of a tiger. His eyes were large and brown and on his head were two crest feathers that went back slightly. They were tipped with white as well. Mimi just cooed at how adorable the small digimon was.

"Well, now that you've helped out, I guess you'll be leaving," Amanda said, heaving a sigh. "It was nice meeting you anyway."

Michael considered the idea of leaving for a moment, but his instincts told him to stay. It couldn't be a coincidence that they had driven to this place and met this girl. Maybe it was only a fluke that they took a detour through this small town, but the strong familiarity he felt with it and the appearance of this girl told him he was in the right place. He felt certain that they couldn't leave now. This girl might be the one they were looking for.

"Actually, maybe we could stay for a little bit," Michael offered. "We'd like to talk to you for a while. If that's okay with you, that is."

Amanda seemed taken aback. "You… want to see my house?"

Michael hesitated, then nodded.

"O-okay!" she agreed delightedly. _Gee,_ she thought, _I wonder if I can get Michael to stay here long enough to propose to me._

* * *

Amanda's home was a small, one-story house a few blocks from the railroad tracks. She remarked that no two places in Roxanne were more than a few blocks from each other. She was bored to tears in such a small place and wished she could commute to school in Ottawa or Toronto instead of being confined to her regular school in town, but the distance was too great anyway. "That's one good thing about being a Digidestined," she remarked. "I can always go to the Digital World if I get bored here."

"Amanda, is that you?" a voice called from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mama," she called back. "I brought over some friends!"

"Really? Well, I made some brownies, if they want some," she told her. Michael noted that her mother sounded surprised at the idea of her having friends over. He thought that was a bit sad.

"Ooh, brownies!" Betamon said.

"In a minute, Betamon," Michael told him. "I think we should talk with Amanda first."

Amanda smiled. "Great, I can show you my room!"

She led them down the hallway to her room at the back of the house. Lining the hallway were family pictures and framed newspaper clippings from the local paper. "Local girl saves town!" read one. "Meet Roxanne's lone Digidestined!" read another. However, nothing could have prepared Mimi and Michael for what was behind the door.

"Anime," Mimi breathed.

It was indeed an otaku's room. Anime was everywhere, in posters on the wall, in volumes of manga on the bookcase, in over a hundred tapes and DVDs by the small TV set on a small stand, in several amateur sketches littering her desk and her floor, on the wallpaper of her computer screen, and in several anime soundtrack CDs stacked near her stereo.

"Uh… gee…" Michael stammered. "Your room is really… uh… something."

"_Arigato_," she bowed, smiling happily. "I learned a lot my Japanese from anime. And you should see the garage. Papa lets me use it as a workshop where I build machines and stuff. Like the DD siren that _somebody_ destroyed today." Penguinmon just stared at her, not looking remotely apologetic.

"Hey, Sis, who are you talking to?" asked a small boy who barged in the room.

"Get out of my room, Philipe!" she shouted at the boy.

"Who are they?" he asked, ignoring her.

"Just... some friends," she replied.

"Yeah?" he asked, a mean-spirited smirk on his face. "And how did a geek like you get someone to come see your weirdo room? I hope you paid them enough."

"They have digimon, you brat, they're Digidestined!"

He looked to Mimi and Michael and their digimon, but seemed unfazed. "So, what, some _real_ Digidestined came to show you how to do it right?"

"Out!" she screamed, chasing him from the room, slamming the door after him.

"Sorry," she apologized, laughing sheepishly. _"Ototo desu,"_ she explained.

Mimi smiled and decided to make some small talk, since she seemed eager to show off her Japanese skills. "(Your little brother?)" she asked in Japanese. "(You don't get along?)"

Amanda paused for a few moments, trying to understand the quick, fluent Japanese she was unused to. When she finally understood, she gave her answer: "_Iie. Kare wa gaki desu._" ("No. He's a brat.")

Mimi chuckled, following her slow, oddly-stressed Japanese patiently. _"_Roxanne_ wa donna machi desu ka? Tanoshii?"_ ("What sort of town is Roxanne? Is it fun?")

Flustered, Amanda swallowed and again gave her slow answer. "_Iie. Zenzen oishikunai."_

Mimi stifled a giggle as Palmon snickered. Michael had a hard time keeping from laughing as well.

"What?" she asked, concerned, not realizing her mistake. "Wh-what did I say?"

"You said, 'oishikunai,'" he explained, smiling kindly. "I think you meant to say 'not interesting,' and that's 'omoshirokunai.' You said your town is 'not delicious.'"

"Oops," she said, her cheeks turning red. "I guess I need more practice."

"Don't worry," he encouraged her. "It took me a long time before I learned to speak it well. Mimi helped me a lot when she moved to New York."

"And you helped me too!" Mimi added.

He fondly remembered when Mimi first came to New York. At that time they went to the same school and since Michael had learned Japanese from the various times his family had gone to Japan for movie shoots, he was put in charge of showing her around. She helped him polish his skills in Japanese and in return he helped her with English.

"Hey, are we going to just make small talk all day?" Betamon whined.

"Oh, for pity's sake!" Michael exclaimed. "If you want a brownie so badly, go ask Amanda's mom for one. Anything if it will get brownies off your mind!"

Betamon hopped from the room and towards the kitchen energetically. One of the first junk foods Michael had introduced him to were brownies and he'd developed a special taste for them. When he entered the kitchen, he saw Mrs. Giroux at the kitchen counter, mixing the ingredients in a large bowl. She looked nice and had some of the same facial features as Amanda.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but could I please have a brownie?" he asked politely.

There were a lot of things Betamon was naïve about. He should have known first of all that being a digimon was bound to surprise her, even if her daughter was a Digidestined. The other thing he couldn't have known about was that Mrs. Giroux was psychotically afraid of toads.

"Eek!" she screamed. "A toad!"

"Where?" Betamon asked, looking around and almost being clobbered by Mrs. Giroux's rolling pin. It took him almost no time at all to hop his way back to the safety of Amanda's room.

"That was fast," Michael commented. "How was the brownie?"

"Great!" Betamon panted. "So great I don't even need to go out and get another one!"

"Okay," Michael said, disinterestedly.

"So, like you were saying," Amanda went on, "you've both been having a nightmare about some guy with red eyes too." She shuddered as she tried not to think about it. In her dreams, the woods surrounding the town were dead and bare and the town square was littered with the bodies of the townspeople. She heard him laughing before she turned and saw him, his face in shadow but his red eyes burning.

"That's right," Michael affirmed. "I think it might be a sign that we're supposed to work together to stop it, since you had the same dream as Mimi and I."

"But... why me?" she asked.

"I think I had a dream about you," Michael admitted reluctantly.

Amanda seemed pleased to hear that. "So, I'm the girl of your dreams, eh?" she asked.

"You don't ever give up, do you?" Penguinmon asked.

"Oh, lighten up," she grumbled.

"Well, maybe this has something to do with that e-mail you got earlier today, Amanda," her partner suggested.

"Hey, that's right!" she exclaimed. "I forgot to ask you: did either of you get an e-mail from Izzy?"

"From Izzy?" Mimi asked. "About what?"

"It looks like the digiports stopped opening," Amanda told her. "Izzy says all of the kids in Japan are stuck and he's asking Digidestined around the world to try and open it. I saw the email from the mailing list this morning."

"What?" Mimi gasped. "But Palmon and I go there every week!"

"It just started today," Amanda said.

"Mimi, why don't you give it a try?" Palmon asked.

"You too, Michael," Betamon encouraged him.

"You can use my computer," Amanda offered.

Mimi held her breath and raised her digivice before the screen. "Digiport open!" she commanded.

The digiport appeared and, sure enough, the small window opened.

Mimi sighed with relief. She let her arm drop and the port closed immediately. "Michael?" she asked.

"Digiport open!" he said, holding up his digivice now. Again, the port opened.

"I tried it this morning," Amanda said, "but here's the weird thing: even though I can open it, I can't change the destination like I used to. I e-mailed Izzy saying so, but I thought it was really weird that I could open up the digiport when even the kids with those 'D3' things couldn't and—" she noticed that Mimi and Michael had exchanged glances and were now looking at her. "What? What is it?"

"Amanda," Michael said, growing serious, "Mimi and I didn't know about this until just now, but we think that this is a sign. A friend of ours told us that we're supposed to stop this evil digimon that we've been having nightmares about. You've been having the same dreams as us and all of us can open the digiport. We want you to come with us."

"What? With you? I... what for?"

"We think we need you to save the world."

Amanda's jaw dropped. "You mean," she asked, "you want Penguinmon and I to go with you, maybe journey to the Digital World, and risk our lives to try and stop an evil monster and save the world?"

Michael looked to Mimi to see if she was as sure as he was. She nodded and he turned back to her. "Yes."

She started shaking, a look of absolute giddiness on her face. _"Wai!"_ she cheered. "All right, Penguinmon! I knew this day would come! We finally get to go on an adventure and save the world, just like the kids in Japan did!"

"There she goes again," Penguinmon sighed. "Oh well. I guess you better tell your mother and call your father back from work. I'll start packing our things."

"Oh, Penguinmon!" she cried happily, picking up the small avian and hugging him tightly. "This is going to be great! We get to hang out with one of the original Digidestined and a cute boy and we can bring some sardines for you and I can test out my new Digimon Analyzer!"

"You have an Analyzer?" Michael asked.

"Of course!" she replied with a wink. "I'm the greatest technological genius in Canada, after all! This will be the perfect opportunity to try it out!"

Michael had to admire her enthusiasm. It was something completely different from the reluctant attitudes Michael, Mimi, and Jin had felt. He wasn't sure what to make of Amanda, but she had to be the one they were searching for. He just hoped that she knew what she was getting herself into.

**To be continued…**

_(Next time: A pint-sized otaku is just the beginning! When Jin wants to take the gang on a trip to the Digital World, it will be a field trip nobody will forget, and it's just a taste of the journey to come...)_


	4. You'll Never Walk Alone

**Chapter Four:**

**And You'll Never Walk Alone**

"So anyway, if you look at the first 100 episodes of DBZ, you can see it was much better than it is now," Amanda went on. "There was a much better story and even though the battles were drawn-out, they weren't as _loooooong_ as they are now. I mean, it just seems like it's 'stare, stare, stare, and blah, blah, blah, and fight!, fight!, fight!' They need to learn the difference between 'building dramatic tension' and 'padding,' right?"

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," Michael told her as he drove the car down the darkened highway.

Mimi had fallen asleep in the passenger seat and seemed to be resting comfortably. Michael had looked over and noticed the way her soft hair drooped down over her forehead and the sound of her rhythmic breathing was soft and relaxing. He smiled when he'd noticed, thinking that she looked like an angel when she slept.

Of course, he hadn't been able to enjoy it for long, because Amanda was very hard to ignore.

"You know, the last time I went to the U.S. was when I went to an anime convention in Baltimore," she babbled. "I decided to dress up. You know, 'cosplay?' I went as Asuka from _Evangelion_, but I couldn't get my hair the right shade of red. I should have bleached it and dyed it red instead of one of those cheap dyes. I wanted to go as Rei, but Papa wouldn't buy me red contact lenses for the costume..."

Michael heaved a sigh. She jumped from subject to subject, but the one constant was that she never shut up. She had a bad habit of not waiting to hear an answer and it was made worse by her inability to understand how much Michael just wanted to drive in peace.

Still, it was interesting to observe Amanda and Penguinmon's relationship, occasionally glancing at them in the rear view mirror.

Amanda was exceedingly gabby, but her partner almost never said anything. He spent most of his time sitting quietly, looking out the window at the cars as they rushed by, or appreciating the darkened countryside. Occasionally, Amanda would be at a loss for a certain word, and Penguinmon, almost reflexively, gave her the word.

"The other day I got my hands on a rare Japanese DVD of _Vision of Escaflowne,"_ she was saying once, "but I had to mess around with my computer's DVD drive's… uh…"

"…Region codes," Penguinmon finished.

"Yeah, that's right!" she agreed, and then went on.

Penguinmon seemed somewhat embarrassed by his partner's overzealous personality, but he was still proud of her. He spoke highly of her and he'd actually started one of their more interesting conversations a few hours earlier.

Mimi had asked him if he could digivolve to the Ultimate level and Penguinmon had replied, "No, not yet, but Amanda's been trying really hard."

"Why would Amanda have to try?" Betamon asked.

"Amanda's a genius with technology," Penguinmon stated with pride. "She thought she might be able to help me digivolve better if she could power up her digivice."

"How'd she do that?" Michael asked.

"She took it apart and rewired it," Penguinmon replied.

That astonished everyone.

"You took it apart?" Michael exclaimed, incredulous at the idea. "What if you broke it?"

"I was careful," Amanda dismissed. "I just tried to install a solar power source to see if I couldn't boost it or something."

"So, do you know how a digivice works?" Mimi asked curiously.

"Sure. It works with an advanced energy conversion system that harnesses the vitality of the partner and transforms it into energy usable by a digimon to reconfigure and add onto their data in order to digivolve or to reverse the process."

"Huh?" everyone asked collectively.

"It lets partners share energy," Amanda sighed.

"We already knew that," Palmon said.

"That's what Izzy said," Amanda agreed, "but since I learned how it really works, by syncing to a frequency unique to each digimon, I was able to boost the power."

"So, can you digivolve faster or something?" Palmon asked Penguinmon curiously.

"It didn't quite work," Penguinmon admitted, quickly adding, "but it was a good try anyway!"

"Oh, Penguinmon, it was a disaster!" Amanda protested. "The first time I tried to get you to digivolve with it you were nearly electrocuted. I took out the other stuff immediately and restored it to normal."

In addition to being the only known Digidestined to actually take her digivice apart, Amanda had actually constructed her own handheld Digimon Analyzer, designed similarly to Izzy's laptop, but with the added ability to analyze a digimon on sight. It was somewhat bulky and it had some wires sticking out of it haphazardly, but her demonstration on Palmon and Penguinmon had proven that it was effective.

All in all, Michael liked Amanda and her partner, strange as the two were. He had to admire her tenacity and he was incredibly impressed when she had flat out told her mother and father that she was going with them and eventually to the Digital World.

"Mama, Papa," she had said, "I know this stuff with the digimon makes you nervous, but I've shown that Penguinmon and I can protect ourselves."

Michael had been even more impressed with her mother's respectful reaction. "Amanda," she'd sighed, "I know that you are responsible. And Penguinmon really is the best guardian I could ask for. But I want you to promise me one thing: don't do anything foolish. Listen to your friends, take their advice, and learn from their experience." Here she looked directly at Mimi and Michael (the digimon were in the car, since Betamon and Mrs. Giroux were apparently at odds) and said, "You take care of my baby girl. Don't let her get ahead of herself."

"Aw, Mom," she whined, blushing in front of the elder children, both of whom were trying not to chuckle.

Of course, her father had also taken the time to say a few words to Michael in private as Amanda began packing. "Young man, that little girl is my only daughter. And I see the way she looks at you, so just remember this on your adventure: if you touch her, you will need more than your digimon to protect you."

"Ha ha," Michael laughed nervously. "No problem!"

Mr. Giroux squeezed his shoulder and smiled. Then he squeezed a little harder. "Good. Just remember that."

In all seriousness, Michael and Mimi had promised her protection and the three of them had left shortly thereafter. Despite the warnings of Amanda's father, he had to admit that the trust they placed in her and the strength they displayed as they waved them off was touching. He found himself wondering if his own parents would ever be so trusting.

Michael rubbed his tired eyes and pulled the car up to the curb in front of Mimi's apartment building. He reached over to jostle her awake, but hesitated for a moment, feeling one of his momentary jitters at the very thought of touching her, and then put his hand on Mimi's shoulder, shaking her very gently. "Mimi," he called softly. "Mimi, wake up."

Mimi mumbled quietly and then slowly opened her eyes. "Are we home?" she asked.

"Yes," Michael told her. "It's almost midnight, so I'll let you two off here. I've got to get this car home and hope that it doesn't cause too much trouble."

"Okay. Come on, Amanda," Mimi urged.

"Aw, I've got to stay with Mimi?" Amanda asked playfully. "Can't I sleep at your place tonight, Mikey?"

"Mikey?" he demanded. His shoulder suddenly hurt for some reason.

"Oh, stop teasing him," Mimi laughed, helping Amanda out of the Cadillac. "I need you to meet my parents. They're probably still up, waiting for me to get home." She then turned to Michael and smiled. "Thank you, Michael," she said.

Michael returned the smile, the anxiety he felt about returning home vanishing. "You're welcome, Mimi."

* * *

Scarmon awoke to with a start to the one sound in the world that could fill him with dread: Jin screaming.

His human partner had been sleeping fitfully all night and his tossing and turning and his unintelligible mutterings had awakened him several times already. He was sweating and he seemed to be having strange nightmares, likely about that red-eyed creature again, but he needed his sleep and Scarmon didn't want to deprive him of it by waking him. After all, Jin was used to nightmares and Scarmon was aware of Jin's restlessness. When the two of them had been staying on the streets last year, and even in the Digital World, Jin had often been plagued by nightmares of either his mother or of being overwhelmed by powerful digimon. Nightmares were unpleasant, but Jin seemed fairly immune to them.

Now, however, Jin seemed quite affected by whatever he had dreamt. He had sat up and screamed as if he had seen something so terrifying that the red-eyed man paled by comparison. He sat straight up, his eyes wide, as if mesmerized, frozen in shock.

"Jin!" Scarmon cried, getting up and looking at him with the utmost concern. He had screamed so loudly that everyone else in the room had also been awakened. They all stared at the odd pair in their midst, wondering what could be the matter.

Scarmon noticed that Jin didn't look frightened, however. He was very good at reading his partner's expressions, and the terror he expected to see, the frantic glances around for whatever he had dreamt, was not there. Instead, he was sitting straight up and looking ahead as if he saw something no one else could. He was breathing heavily and he didn't respond to Scarmon's question at all.

Instead, pulling himself across the bed with his arms, he grabbed hold of his wheelchair, unfolded it, and pulled himself into it urgently. Scarmon, confused, followed him as he wheeled himself out of the bedroom, still wearing only his nightclothes. The boy left the room and went up the hall, into the study at the far end of it. Inside were several books, some old furniture, generally a place where the children could study in peace. Jin went over to the object that was at the far corner of the room: a globe.

Scarmon looked at his partner for some kind of clue, but he seemed to still be caught in some kind of trance. He stiffly put his hand on top of the globe and rotated it, scanning it with his finger as he looked for something. He settled on New York and traced his finger downward to a certain spot. He turned to Scarmon his eyes burning and unfocused. "I don't know how to explain this, Scarmon," he whispered, tapping the spot, "but we need to go there."

* * *

"I'm not wearing this," Amanda grumbled from Mimi's room.

"Come on!" Mimi laughed, standing outside. "You said you wanted to try on something new, so try that on."

"No way!"

"Come on!" Mimi urged. "Or do you want me to come in after you?"

"Fine," Amanda sighed, coming out. She and Mimi had agreed that she could use a new look, so Mimi decided to let her try on some of her old clothes. Amanda was considerably short, even for her age, however, so Mimi had to dip into the wardrobe she'd had when she was ten.

"Aw, you look great!" Mimi cooed.

Amanda was wearing a pink dress that looked right at home on a cowgirl, as well as brown gloves, cowgirl boots, and wide-brimmed pink hat. Her cheery outfit didn't fit at all with her stormy disposition. Penguinmon, who'd tried to keep quiet, finally exploded in a fit of laughter and started rolling around on the floor, holding his belly.

"That takes me back," Palmon commented.

"I feel stupid in this," Amanda growled.

"What's wrong with it?" Mimi asked.

"This is ridiculous!" Amanda exclaimed. "I mean, it's cute in a novelty sort of way, but who would actually wear this outside?"

Mimi fumed. Palmon motioned to Amanda to be quiet.

"Oh. Okay," Mimi said slowly, trying hard not to get angry. "Maybe you'd like to try on something else?"

Amanda nodded and quickly retreated back into Mimi's room.

"Well, fashions change, Mimi," Palmon reminded her.

"I wore that outfit everywhere," she growled through her teeth. "That was my favorite dress and she _made fun of it."_

"Well, if you're mad, we could always get a posse and hang her!" Penguinmon laughed. "That's just great! When we meet an evil digimon, she can just tell him to 'stick 'em up!'" he went on.

"Palmon, do penguins taste like chicken?" Mimi asked.

Penguinmon shut up.

"She's just kidding," Palmon assured him.

Penguinmon only whimpered.

Mimi was broken out of her foul mood, however, when the phone rang. She left the two digimon to critique Amanda and went to the living room to answer it.

"Hello? Jin!" she exclaimed. "We found the new Digidestined!… Yes, she's from Canada… Yes, a girl… Well, I guess you could meet her… Today?… Well, yes, but… Jin, what's the matter?… Really?… What for?… Well, if you're sure… All right, I'll see… I'll call Michael… All right, how about after lunch?… Okay… All right, goodbye."

"Was that Jin?" Palmon asked, coming into the room.

"Yes, but he seemed excited about something. He wants to meet all of us at the hostel, but he didn't say much else."

"Well, in the meantime," Penguinmon interjected, entering after Palmon, "say hello to the new Amanda Giroux!"

Amanda stepped into the room in a new set of clothes that seemed to suit her much better. She had donned a short-sleeved pastel blue polo shirt. She also wore a light khaki skirt and a pair of brown shoes. All in all, she looked much cuter than before, especially now that she had clipped her hair back, showing more of her face. The outfit worked well with her pale skin and her dark hair. Mimi nodded approvingly.

"You like it?" she asked.

"Yes, I do."

"I feel kind of girly in this," she confessed.

"Well, that's okay," Mimi said. "You are a girl, after all."

"Looking good, Amanda," Penguinmon complimented her.

"And best of all, you can show it off when we go out today," Palmon added.

"We're going out?" she asked. "Is Michael coming too?" She gave a mischievous smirk at that last thought.

"Yes, he's coming too."

"Well, we should make a date of it!" she declared. "I'd love to have some tea with him, and I mean 'tea' in the same sense as the cleaned-up _Tenchi Muyo_ dub, if you know what I mean."

"Nope!" Mimi replied obliviously. "Let me check my e-mail before we go. I mailed Izzy and told him about what's been going on."

"All right," Amanda said with a nod.

* * *

A few hours later, Michael arrived at the hostel. He found Jin alone in the computer lab.

"Afternoon, Michael," Jin said. "Did Mimi relay the message?"

"Of course," he affirmed, giving a terse nod, "but I don't see why you want to take a trip to the Digital World right now."

"You and I both know that the Digiport is acting weird," he said. "I figured it out yesterday and that new kid told you. I wanted you guys to come so maybe we can ask someone in the Digital World what's going on."

"Mimi told me something like that, but she said she has a new plan. I think Izzy e-mailed her about something."

"Did you get in trouble for the stolen car?" Jin asked.

"Yes, actually, I did," Michael said irritably. "They called my dad, but they haven't gotten a hold of him yet. I had to beg to bring my chauffeur out here. I just told him it was important. I hope you didn't bring all of us here for nothing."

"You don't give me much credit, do you, Mike?" Jin asked.

"No, I don't, and don't call me Mike!" he snapped.

"Think he's still moody about the bike?" Scarmon asked with a chuckle.

"I wasn't until you mentioned it," Michael said, clenching his fists in anger.

"Michael, calm down," Betamon urged.

"How can I be calm around him?" Michael demanded. "I wouldn't let my guard down around him for anything!"

"You know Michael, there's nothing much funnier than an angry preppy," Jin commented.

Michael was about to get even angrier when he suddenly heard Mimi say, "Hi! Sorry we're late!"

"Oh, Mimi!" he said happily, turning to face her.

"Good to see you again, Michael," Amanda said. She then noticed the older boy in the wheelchair and felt her heart skip a beat. "And who is this?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"Jin Takamura," Jin answered, shaking her hand. "And this is my partner, Scarmon."

"Hey, how's it go—"

"Oh my gosh!" she cried, cutting Scarmon off as she scooped him off the floor and examined him at arms length. "A Scarmon! I've got to analyze this!"

That said, she pulled her pocket analyzer from her backpack and pointed it a very surprised Scarmon. "Let's see," she began, reading her analysis: "'Name: Scarmon. Level: Rookie. Attribute: Virus. Type: Reptile. Basic information: An extremely rare digimon, nearly extinct in the Digital World, these creatures are known as natural born hunters and are blessed with exceptional speed, night vision, and form strong devotional ties. They often hunt in packs and are known to be quite ferocious.'"

"Sounds like it knows what it's talking about," Scarmon said proudly.

"It also says, 'This digimon is not usually blessed with high intelligence and its nasty temper often makes it get into fights that it has no chance of winning, which is one reason why they are nearly extinct.'"

"What?" Scarmon shouted. Michael and Betamon both chuckled. "What are you talking about?"

"Hey, the analyzer doesn't lie," she declared.

"Well, here's an analysis for ya: 'Name: Geek. Type: Stupid. Description: This ridiculous-looking human is known for saying stupid things to creatures capable of biting her nose off!'"

"Hey, you can't talk to my partner that way!" Penguinmon protested, standing defensively in front of Amanda.

"You wanna start something, snake bait?" Scarmon growled.

Jin watched all this with mild amusement. "So," he said, turning to Mimi, "this is the Canuck?"

Amanda froze, her disposition clouding over in an instant. "Hey, who are you calling a Canuck, you jerk?" she demanded, getting right in Jin's face.

"Oh, I'm sorry 'aboot' that," Jin said sarcastically.

"Jin, knock it off!" Michael yelled at him.

"Keep out of this, blondie," Jin shot back.

"Listen, you punk," Amanda was saying, "you don't know what you're talking 'about!' Do I look like a lumberjack? Do I look like I end every sentence with 'eh?'"

"Exactly," agreed Michael.

"Have a little respect, why don't you? Canada is at least as good, if not a better country that the U.S.!"

"Well, let's not go overboard," Michael added.

Jin and Amanda both glared at him simultaneously. "Shut up and keep out of this!" they shouted in unison. While Michael was trying to recover from this dual assault, Jin and Amanda both turned to each other in surprise. Then, unexpectedly, they both began to laugh.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Jin apologized, bowing politely. "I was just joking around."

"Me too," she said. "I shouldn't have lost my temper."

"Well, it looks like they've found some common ground," Mimi shrugged.

"Uh-huh," Michael sighed. "They both like to make fun of me." He then turned to Scarmon and Penguinmon, who had also broken off their fight. In fact, both were laughing as well.

"What happened with you guys?" Palmon asked.

"We found some common ground too," Penguinmon said.

"We both like raw fish," Scarmon explained. "Works for me!"

"Well, I guess that explains it," Palmon said, confused, but happy that they were getting along.

"Since everyone seems to be getting along okay now," Mimi spoke up, "I have something to tell everyone: we're going on a hike!"

They all looked to each other, not really understanding.

"Jin, you wanted to go the Digital World," Mimi went on, "but Izzy e-mailed me and he thinks he has a way to get around it without using the digiports."

"Come again?" Michael asked.

"Well Izzy thinks that… um… well, he thinks that…" Mimi struggled, trying to put it into words.

"Do you have the e-mail, Mimi?" Amanda sighed. Mimi did and gave it to her. She read over it and translated it so they could all understand.

"Okay, Izzy thinks that the way the digiports work now is that each digiport in an area corresponds to an area in the Digital World," Amanda explained. "If he's right, we can go into the Digital World from here and walk from that area to another one a few miles away. We use the port back and we'll end up in an area outside the city. The problem is that the order is mixed up. Not every place on earth matches the same place there. We can travel both worlds, but we have to match the earth location to the Digital World location if we want to get anywhere."

"Right!" Mimi exclaimed, jumping back in. "So we're going to the Digital World to hike from the area that matches New York to a different area that matches the outskirts!"

"Okay, sounds good to me," Jin agreed.

"I'm in, too," Michael said.

"Yeah," Jin added. "We'll need to test this if we—" he stopped himself short, not finishing the thought. "I'll explain if this works," he said.

"Michael, when we get back to Earth, we'll need you to call for a driver to get us back," Amanda told him.

"Sure, why not?" he shrugged, rolling his eyes. "I seem to be the pack horse of the group."

"Oh, Michael, don't be silly! You don't look anything like a horse!" Mimi laughed. The rest of the group rolled their eyes collectively.

* * *

Scarmon inhaled the air deeply. It had the scent of wildflowers and exotic fauna, as well as that of pine. Back in New York, he'd had to put up with considerably worse smells. Air pollution, car exhaust, and the pungent aroma of the sewers were just a few he could name. Now, finally back in the Digital World, he felt energized by the clean air.

"Finally!" he cried, taking off on his little legs, enjoying the tall grass brushing against him as he ran.

"Don't run too far, we've got a long way to go," Jin admonished.

"We've got a little time," Scarmon replied. "Come on, let's chase down something small and defenseless and eat it, like the old days!"

"Savage," Michael muttered.

"Wimp," Jin muttered back.

"I've never been in an area this nice," Amanda exclaimed. "Penguinmon and I mostly stayed in colder climates."

"Yeah, this is such a welcome change," Penguinmon grumbled sarcastically, his feathers ruffling in the warm area.

"You just need to get used to it," she encouraged him.

"Can we at least find a stream and swim to the next area?" Penguinmon begged.

"I'd rather not try to swim using just my arms," Jin reminded him, tapping the arm of the wheelchair. "We wouldn't get very far if I had to float the whole way there."

"Maybe the digimon could use him for a raft," Michael sneered.

"What did you say?" Jin demanded, turning nasty.

"Oh, nothing," Michael replied with a smirk.

Jin didn't respond verbally. Instead, he took off his boot and, without another word, threw it at Michael, whose back was turned, hitting him in the head.

"You two stop that!" Mimi exclaimed. "Michael, give Jin his boot back."

Michael brought his arm back to throw it at him.

"I said _give_ it to him," she said, tapping her foot impatiently. _Boys,_ she thought tiredly.

* * *

Mimi walked ahead of the group. The fastest trail, according the maps of the Digital World sent to them by Izzy, was relatively easy-going, but in order to avoid some rocky going they had to cross over a ridge with steep sides. The path arched high up over the rest of the forest below, but the sides were so high that in some cases they formed cliffs, forming something like the edge of a saw. Mimi found the scenery beautiful and she and Palmon were once again struck by how peaceful a place the Digital World could be. Of course, it wasn't entirely peaceful…

"Mimi, Jin ran over my toes again!" Michael complained.

"Wrong," Jin chuckled, "I ran over them the first time. This time I _backed up_ over them. There's a difference."

"I'm getting really sick of this, Jin," Michael told him angrily.

"Will you relax? It couldn't have hurt that much, you crybaby."

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but you weigh a ton!" Michael yelled.

"Oh, you're not going to attack my weight are you?" Jin asked in mock fear. "At least I'm not a flyweight like you. I could throw you twenty feet with one arm!"

"They're at it again," Amanda sighed, looking plaintively in Mimi's direction. "It's a shame: two cute boys and I have to watch them both fight."

"I'd think you'd like this sort of thing," Penguinmon said.

"Only if they were wrestling," she said, blushing slightly. "In mud. Mmm."

"Jin, don't push me," Michael warned him through gritted teeth.

Jin just laughed. "Really? Or what?" he asked, and gave Michael a firm shove with one hand.

Michael, looking flustered, stood his ground and shoved him back.

"Oh, this is gonna get ugly," Scarmon said to Betamon.

"Michael, I wouldn't…" Betamon advised.

Jin responded by shoving Michael back with both arms, this time hard enough so that he had difficulty staying on both feet. Now quite angered, he rushed and Jin with both arms outstretched.

"Michael, no!" Betamon cried.

His partner spoke too late, however. Michael shoved Jin with such force that his wheelchair rolled backwards, off the beaten path of the ridge and towards the sloping sides which lead down to a cliff that towered above the trees.

"Jin!" Scarmon cried, seeing his partner sliding precariously towards the cliff, running after him.

Jin, meanwhile, was trying to stop. He tried putting on the brakes, but he had too much momentum for it; they were meant for parking, not for slowing down. Then he tried to stop the wheels with his hands, but even when he stopped them from rolling, the friction burning his hands, he was still skidding down the loose, gravelly sides too fast to stop. "Scarmon, hurry!" he shouted helplessly.

Scarmon tried his best and leapt forward with all his might, but Jin had far too much speed. All he could do was watch in horror as Jin flew off the edge and outward, as if jumping off a ramp.

Flying through the air, realizing he was about to fall to the ground far below, Jin called out to the others back on the ridge: "Michael! If I survive this, I'm going to kill you! You hear me? I'm going to kick the living sh—"

Jin never got the finish that sentence, however, as he crashed through the treetops and fell from sight.

"Jin! Jin!" Mimi shrieked hysterically. "Jin, are you all right?"

"Jin, say something!" Scarmon pleaded.

Only silence was heard from the forest below.

Michael stood there, frozen with disbelief at what he'd just done. He might have just killed Jin, and it was all his fault. He was shaken from his thoughts however, when Amanda punched him harshly in the arm.

"Michael, you jerk!" she exclaimed. "Look what you did!"

"I… I didn't mean to," he protested. "It was an accident!"

"You should have known better!" Amanda shouted. "What were you thinking, shoving him near a ledge, with him in a wheelchair?"

"If anything happened to him," Scarmon snarled in rage, "I'll tear your heart out!"

"Stop it, all of you!" Mimi cried. "We have to find him and see if he's all right!"

Michael shook his head and was able to momentarily concentrate on the task at hand. "Betamon, quick!" he called. "Digivolve to Seadramon and we can get down there faster!"

Betamon readied himself as he felt energy flowing through his body. He only hoped that things would turn out fine...

* * *

Jin opened his eyes. He was flat on his stomach and it hurt to breathe. He had several scratches on his arms. He supposed he had sustained them when he fell through the trees. Sap was sticking to his clothes and he brushed pine needles from his hair. It was then that he became aware of something else nearby.

"Scarmon?" he asked weakly.

"No," the creature said. "Who are you?"

"Name's Jin," he replied. "And you are…?"

He looked up and saw a strange digimon. He was dressed in white, from head to toe, and he wore a white, pointed hat. In one hand was a long staff. He also wore a cape and cowl that covered the lower part of his face. Only his large, green eyes were visible over it.

"Sorcerymon," he replied. "Are you all right?"

"I can't feel my legs," he said, then chuckled at his own joke.

"I fail to see what's so funny about that," Sorcerymon replied. "But, no matter."

"What do you mean?"

"You're injured," he said. "I practice white magic. I can heal you."

Jin watched Sorcerymon's hands, which were covered by white gloves, as he waved them around enigmatically. He moved them slowly, making long, exagerrated motions. As he did so, a soft white glow emanated from his fingertips. Jin winced only a moment as the glow covered him. He looked down at the scratches on his arms and was astonished to see them vanishing as if never harmed at all. The pain in his chest cleared as well and he found it easy to breathe once again.

"That was amazing," Jin said.

"Do you feel any different?" he asked.

"Well, I feel better," he said.

"Hmm. Is that all?"

Jin shrugged. "Yes, I guess so."

Sorcerymon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Then, without warning, he raised his staff and brought it down on Jin's knee.

"OW!" he shouted, clutching it instinctively. "What did you do that for?"

"Does it hurt?"

"Hell yes it hurts!" he said. Then he realized: it hurt because he had feeling in his legs again. He had brought his leg up in order to clutch it.

He could use his legs again.

"You… you fixed my spinal injury?" he asked incredulously.

"Why, is that not done where you come from?" Sorcerymon asked.

Jin chuckled giddily. "No, no it isn't," he laughed softly. Then, straining hard, wobbling badly, he got to his feet and, for the first time in almost a year, stood on his own.

"Jin!" Mimi called from somewhere nearby. "Jin, where are you?"

"I'm over here!" he called.

No sooner had he called, then all of them came running over to the clearing. They all froze when they saw him standing.

"Oh, Jin," Mimi breathed. "You… you're…"

"I can walk," he said, tears of happiness in his eyes. "I can walk!" he laughed, and ran over to her. Laughing with joy, he lifted her up by the waist and held her over him, spinning her around like partners in a dance. Then, losing his balance, he fell backwards, Mimi landing on him.

"But how?" she asked, now crying herself.

"Sorcerymon," he said between the laughter and sobs as he laid on his back.

It was then that they all noticed the strange digimon nearby. "Hello," he said shyly.

"You look like… Wizardmon," Mimi said.

Sorcerymon nodded. "He was my brother," he explained. "Twins, actually, hatched at the same time. But he chose a loner's life, going from place to place until he met Gatomon and, of course, you Digidestined. I, however, have become a traveling healer, helping sick or wounded digimon, so that they won't be deleted."

"And you helped Jin?" Amanda asked.

Jin, meanwhile, was running around like a maniac, an overjoyed Scarmon chasing him through the trees.

"Yes, and he seems happy about it," Sorcerymon affirmed.

"Well, thank you," Mimi said.

"It is the least I can do," he replied. "I heard what you Digidestined did for my brother. You helped him to find a purpose in life, and he, in turn thought you were worth sacrificing himself for. It is the least I could do to heal one of you."

"That's an amazing power you have," Michael said. "We're going off to fight an enemy that's supposed to be extremely powerful. Maybe you should come with us!"

Sorcerymon shook his head. "I can't," he told them. "I'm on my way to a village of digimon that was nearly destroyed by a fire. I have to use my powers to heal them. My duties keep me busy, so, you see, I can't be your healer for your quest. I'm sorry."

"That's all right," Mimi told him. "You've already done so much for us!"

"I'll say," Jin agreed, coming up to them. He shook Sorcerymon's hand firmly. "I don't know how to thank you."

"You can thank me by doing your duty to the Digital World," Sorcerymon told him. "Just protect it and you'll have paid your debt."

Jin nodded solemnly. "I promise."

"I'm glad to see you're all right, Jin," Michael said.

Jin looked over his shoulder and saw Michael standing nearby. "You know, now that I have my legs back, there's something I've wanted to do for a long time," he declared. Without saying another word, he brought his foot back, then high-kicked Michael in the chin, causing his head to snap back as he fell over. Jin also lost his footing from the high kick and fell over as well.

"Looks like I haven't gotten my balance down yet," he laughed. "But it was worth it!"

"Ow," Michael groaned.

"Well, you did kind of deserve it," Amanda said. "You uh... want me to kiss that and make it better?"

"No!"

Sorcerymon watched all this with mild bewilderment. "You're a strange group," he said. "I hope you really are the right people for the job."

* * *

Not much later, they were all riding in the back of a limo called for by Michael. Jin was still glowing in the ecstasy of his newfound freedom and the rest were simply happy that they'd found out how to use the digiports properly. They had all walked to the nearest TV set in the next area and successfully used it to transport to the outskirts of New York. The only thing that remained was to go back home and formulate a plan.

"Well, I think everything went pretty well," Michael said.

"Yeah, all we need is to figure out where this evil guy is and we can take him out!" Amanda exclaimed.

Jin sighed, getting Mimi's attention.

"Jin? What's wrong?" she asked. "Aren't you happy?"

"Remember how I had something to tell you, but I wanted to wait until later?" he asked. "Now's the time."

Amanda leaned forward interestedly. "What is it, Jin?"

"Michael, can the driver hear us behind the glass?" Jin asked Michael cautiously.

Michael shook his head. "We can talk privately."

"Okay," he said, taking a deep breath. "Last night, I had a dream. It wasn't about that thing with red eyes, this time. I had a dream that there was someone calling me. They wanted me to come and it seemed so important that… well…"

"It scared you to death," Scarmon explained.

Jin nodded. "It was like I couldn't help but agree. We have to find this person, because they can help us fight."

"What makes you so sure that this wasn't just a dream?" Michael asked skeptically.

"You had a dream and found Amanda, didn't you?" he reminded him.

Michael nodded. "Right, and it's pretty clear she's had the same dreams as the rest of us."

"I wasn't sure until just now what I had to do," he went on. "But I feel like now that I've got my legs back, I have to return the favor to the Digital World, and that means doing my part. Just like I promised Sorcerymon. So, I think we have to all go and find our new ally before we can fight."

"But, where do we have to go?" Mimi asked.

Jin gave a heavy sigh this time. "To Mexico," he answered.

**To be continued…**

_(Next time: From New York to Mexico? That's a heck of a trip. How will everyone prepare for the journey?)_


	5. Baggage

**Chapter Five:**

**Baggage**

Vademon was lying on the floor yawning tiredly as he tried to keep his ray gun trained on the door. He had been waiting in this small satellite station for a few days and was already bored. He was beginning to wonder if his new boss had forgotten him. Part of him just wanted to leave the station for something more interesting, but he had no desire to anger the Dark One, so he stayed put.

He was jolted to his senses when he heard a loud knock on the door. Scrambling to his "feet," he held aimed the gun at the door and called out, "Identify yourself!"

"Oh, it's just little ol' me," came the reply, the voice so icy and cruel that Vademon was instantly reminded of why he was obedient. "Just came to borrow a cup of sugar."

"Master!" Vademon cried from his side of the door. "I wasn't expecting you!"

"Well, let me in before I catch my death… or you catch yours," he chuckled menacingly.

Vademon swallowed. "I- I- I'll be right there, master!" he stammered. "Now, I jammed the lock, but I have a pair of pliers I found to fix it… uh… now, where did I put them?"

The Dark One heaved a sigh. Vademon nearly jumped out of his skin when the reinforced steel door was ripped clean off its hinges. "I'm not feeling patient today," he explained, flashing a horrible grin.

"I've done as you asked, master," Vademon told him, bowing on the floor not only to show respect, but also to avoid looking him in the eyes.

"Excellent work, Vademon," the Dark One congratulated him. "You've done well, but the time has come for you to go on to your next task."

"What task is that, master?"

"Well, we can't have all this dark energy being controlled at this simple station. I'm establishing my new base of operations in a new area. I've cleared out the rabble there and set up some fancy new facilities, and you're in charge of making sure that the technological part of my plan goes off without a hitch. I've already gone across the Digital World, gathering forces for the upcoming war. In fact, I'm sending a large number of them to Earth very shortly. And you should count yourself lucky; you'll be one of the highest ranked of my subjects."

"Anything you say, oh great one."

"I want obedience, not obsequiousness. Knock it off or I'll crush your head like a grape."

Vademon almost fainted.

"Well, let's go for a walk," he said cheerily. "I need to set you on your way and pick up a few friends while I'm at it."

"Friends?"

"Yes," he replied, chuckling. "They'll be a welcoming party for the Digidestined. When those kids finally come to the Digital World, they'll need something to keep them busy. "

"But master, surely they're no match for you!"

The Dark One laughed harder. "Of course not, but let's humor them. It's more fun that way."

"Fun?"

"Yes," he answered, his grin growing slightly larger, but infinitely more vicious. "Let's toy with them for now. I'd like to see what they can do. And when I've had all the fun there is to be had, I'll move in and simply _tear them apart."_

* * *

Michael entered through the front door that evening and breathed a tired sigh. How was he going to get to Mexico? On one hand, he didn't really want to go, but he couldn't abandon his responsibility. This thing was real, whatever it was. That prophesy, for example. He wasn't sure how Amanda had fit into it other than his own gut instinct, but then he realized the connection: Amanda was a hacker, which meant that she often bypassed Internet firewalls. And the prophesy mentioned "one who walks through walls of fire." He supposed he wouldn't mind this difficult situation so much if he wasn't already in a lot of trouble. It was bad enough that Jin had convinced everyone to go, but now he had to plan a very long trip under the nose of his father.

"Dad..." he said thoughtfully.

"Over here, son."

Michael whirled around in surprise. Sitting on the stairs, a deep frown on his face, Mr. Washington glared at his son sullenly.

"Dad, when did you get home?" Michael asked.

"Don't try to change the subject, young man," his father growled. "I got home this afternoon. Imagine my surprise to hear all the details of what you've been up to. The security cameras have been smashed, Henderson at the gates was attacked, and it was apparently all done so _you_ could steal my Cadillac and go on some kind of joyride that lasted all day, and then, when I called and left specific instructions that you were not to go anywhere, you wrangled Saunders to drive you around town and pick you up from some thing you were doing in the country. I hope you've got a good explanation, Michael, or you're going to be spending your entire summer vacation grounded in your room."

"It wasn't like that, Mr. Washington!" Betamon protested.

"First of all, I'm mad at you for going along with him, Betamon," Mr. Washington shot back. "And second of all, I was talking to my _son._"

Michael gulped. He never knew how to talk to his father when he was angry. Still, this was important, so he tried to muster his courage and speak confidently.

"I'm sorry, Dad, but this was important," he explained.

"So important that you couldn't tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you."

"Oh, so now I'm a jerk because you were just thinking of me, right?"

"Yes—"

"What was that?" he demanded.

"I mean, no, I—"

"Well, what is it?"

"Stop yelling at me!" he cried.

"Then knock it off and tell me why you think that this was okay!" he roared, coming to his feet.

"Because I'm trying to save the world!" Michael shouted. "I've been having nightmares about the end of the world and Mimi has too and we and some other kids have to do some traveling to save the Earth before it's too late!"

Michael clapped his hand over his mouth, realizing he'd said too much.

Mr. Washington sighed and sat back down. "So that's what this is all about."

Michael nodded.

"It's true, sir," Betamon affirmed.

"Quiet, Betamon," Mr. Washington ordered harshly. Betamon, who was unaccustomed to Michael's father speaking so angrily, took a step back, feeling the sting of his words.

"Son, do you remember what I said when you said we needed to pick up that Davis kid from Florida?"

"You said yes."

"Right. And you know what I said when you and Betamon said you had to go and fight Gorillamon at the Empire State Building?"

"You said yes."

"Exactly. And do you know why I said yes those times?"

"Because you believed that I had to help save the world?"

"No," Mr. Washington corrected him. "I said yes because you two are supposed to protect _New York_. There are plenty of other kids out there who can handle the big things; you need to take care of things here."

"Dad, that's not fair—"

"Son, I'm not going to let you get killed out there," he declared. "You know Betamon can't evolve more than once. Those other kids out there, the Japanese ones I mean, can get really powerful. Let them save the world while you hold down the fort here in the Big Apple."

"But they need _me!"_ he protested.

"Michael, I said no!" he barked. "You may want to join that girl, prove yourself a man, have an adventure and all that, but as long as you're my son, you're going to do what I say. And I say that you stay put here in town, mister!"

"You don't even know what you're talking about!" Michael stomped past his father, up the stairs and to his room, Betamon following right behind.

Mr. Washington shook his head. _That was harsh,_ he thought, _but it was for his own good. I can't stand by and let him get hurt. He's just a kid. He doesn't know any better._

* * *

The next day, Mimi was staring at the TV. She bit her lip nervously at the sight on the screen.

"Hey, Mimi," Amanda began, coming into the room, "I was wondering—"

"Shh!" Mimi hushed her. "Look at this!"

Amanda looked and gawked at what was on the screen. The picture displayed a large rice field in China. Crawling all over the crops, tearing through them, were strange metallic creatures that resembled upright lizards. They walked stiffly and slowly, but there were hundreds of them.

"They look like Agumon," Palmon commented.

Amanda was quickly working with her pocket analyzer. "Here they are," she said, the picture displaying on the device. "ToyAgumon. These guys are artificial digimon. They're built in factories and used as light security for populated areas. They aren't intelligent, but they can still be destructive."

As if to confirm this, the screen changed to a scene of several of the ToyAgumon standing before a small house. An angry farmer ordered them to go away, but his threats fell on deaf ears. _"Block Punch!"_ they attacked in unison, and shot a volley of hard, metal blocks at the house, taking sizable chunks out of it as the farmer's family looked on, crying out helplessly.

"This is terrible!" Mimi cried.

_"Tempest Wing!"_ another voice shouted, and a whirlwind carried the small digimon away.

Mimi brightened when she saw who had spoken. "Halsemon!" she cried.

_"That was the scene earlier today in China,"_ the reporter said. _"These strange creatures, identified as being another kind of the strange creatures known as 'digimon,' appeared last night all over the country. There appear to be several thousand of them, at least a thousand in Beijing alone. To combat this threat, Digidestined, children who partner with tame digimon, have been working on capturing and destroying as many of these mechanical pests as possible. Thus far, only mild injuries are reported, although the damage being done could potentially cost millions of dollars. While native Chinese Digidestined are hard at work combating these creatures, a large number of children pitching in are Japanese."_

"What?" Mimi asked.

The screen changed and displayed, to both Mimi and Amanda's surprise, Ken, standing in an area just cleared of ToyAgumon. _"We wanted to help our Chinese friends out,"_ Ken said, his words displayed in English subtitles. _"My friend Davis and I have a high-speed digimon named Imperialdramon, so he took my friends and I here to help them fight off these things. It will probably take several more days of work, but we think we can get all of them if we work together."_

Just then, Ken was pushed out of the way by an energetic Davis, who flashed a smile and a peace sign for the camera. _"Hi, Mom!"_ he cried.

"Oh boy," Penguinmon said, shaking his head. "That guy was the leader of the armored Digidestined?"

"Well, they never took a vote, exactly," Palmon explained, "but he's actually very… uh, Mimi? Is something wrong?"

Mimi had her face resting in her hands and she wore an expression of dismay. "This is really bad," she said.

"I'm sure those guys can stop all the ToyAgumon before they get too out of hand," Amanda reassured her.

"That's not what I'm worried about," Mimi told her. "You see, since we need to get to Mexico, Jin thought that maybe we could get a ride with Imperialdramon. That would be the easiest way, but now—"

"But now, Veemon and Wormmon are both busy in China, so they can't help us!" Palmon finished, understanding.

"What are we going to do?" Mimi asked worriedly.

"We could wait for them to clear China of the ToyAgumon," Amanda suggested.

"It... might be too late by then. We need to go as soon as we can. The sooner we find _him_, the better."

There was a collective shudder shared among them: each of them knew what _him_ Mimi meant.

The red-eyed monster. The Ancient Enemy.

"I guess we'll have to call Jin and talk to him about a new plan," Amanda said.

"Don't worry, Mimi," Palmon reassured her. "I'll bet Jin will think of something."

"From what Scarmon's told me about how they work," Penguinmon interjected, "that might not be such a good idea."

* * *

"So, that's how it is, Mimi?" Jin asked her over the phone.

_"Yes,"_ she replied. _"I called Michael. I thought that maybe he or his dad could help, but the butler who answered the phone said he wasn't allowed to use the phone right now."_

"Sounds like rich boy got in trouble," Jin whispered to Scarmon, who chuckled in response. "Well," he resumed, returning to Mimi, "what do we do now?"

_"We were hoping you could come up with something."_

Jin hesitated for a moment. "Okay, leave it to me," he told her nonchalantly.

Mimi seemed to relax. _"Thank you so much, Jin."_

"Hey, it's my idea," he reminded her. "I should be the one handling this anyway. I'll call you when I have a plan. In the meantime, keep packing. Bring enough to get by for at least a week." He thought that last comment over. "And pack _light_ Mimi, I don't mean all the stuff you normally wear in a week."

She giggled nervously, and Jin smirked, knowing he'd caught her._ "Okay, I'll do my best. Good luck, Jin."_

Jin put the phone back on the hook and wheeled himself to the study. He no longer needed the wheelchair, of course, but figured that coming back to the hostel miraculously cured of his paralysis would draw too much attention. He decided that it was better to keep up appearances, since he would be leaving soon anyway.

He sank at that last thought. Scarmon noticed.

"What's the matter, Jin?" he asked.

"I'm just thinking of how nice this all is."

"What, this dump?" he asked. "I miss living in Mimi's apartment. That was nice. This place is just a step above the sewers, if you ask me."

"Yeah, but we have a bed, we have a life, and we're really fitting in here," he explained. "And now, because of this trip, we have to leave."

"We can come back," Scarmon told him. "It's not like we can't ever come back here."

"No, we... we can't come back," Jin said. "If we leave on this trip, I'll be violating the terms of my parole. I'll go back to juvenile hall if I come back here. If we leave, there's no turning back."

Scarmon took that in carefully, not realizing the severity of the situation. Jin loved this place. His happiness was important to him, so he tried to think of a new plan.

"Then maybe you should stay here instead."

"I can't," he groaned. "This is too important, Scarmon. No matter how much I want to stay, I can't ignore my responsibility. I promised Sorcerymon I would do my duty to the Digital World and, what's more, the fate of the world might depend on this. We have to go."

Scarmon leapt onto the chair, into his lap. "Then, I guess there's nothing to talk about," Scarmon yawned. "Just remember: even if you can't come back here, I'll still be wherever you go to keep you company."

Jin smiled. "I can deal with that."

"Well, _you're_ looking serious," someone said from behind him. He turned around and saw Shannon Smith standing in the doorway.

"Hey, that's the girl who thought we looked cute," Scarmon said.

"Quiet!" Jin hissed at him, his cheeks already reddening.

"Care to tell me what's going on?" she asked slyly, shutting the door to the study behind her.

"Going on?" he repeated. "No, nothing going on! Nothing wrong at all!" he said, his English worsening as he became more nervous.

"Really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "So, there's nothing you want to tell me?"

Jin took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "No, I'm fine. I can't think of anything I want to talk about."

"How about we start off with why you're faking?" she said. "You aren't fooling me, Takamura: you can walk."

Jin went pale.

"Don't look so surprised, Jin," she laughed. "Yesterday you were in here and someone dropped a dictionary on your knee and you didn't even flinch. You were definitely paralyzed yesterday. But today, you're no more handicapped than I am."

"No, I— I still need a wheelchair," he protested lamely.

"Don't bother lying," she said. "You crossed your legs a minute ago and didn't notice."

Jin looked down and saw that he had indeed crossed his legs. Unconsciously, he had put his right foot onto his left knee and it was still resting there as they spoke.

"Crap."

"You've got to give her credit. She's good," Scarmon said.

Jin became angry then, and stood up. His footing was uncertain and he wobbled slightly, still unaccustomed to using his legs, but his height and his build were imposing nonetheless. "Listen," he began, trying to sound menacing, "i-if you tell anyone…"

"Me? Ha! I'm not going to tell anybody anything!" she laughed. "Just relax. I only want to know what you're up to."

"Well, I guess we better tell her," Scarmon said. "Either that or eat her."

Jin shrugged, giving up. "Okay, since you asked, I have to go on a long trip and I don't know how to get myself and three others to our destination. I need a car, which won't be easy, and I'll be violating parole if I leave, which will probably get me arrested."

Shannon noticed how serious he was and nodded appreciatively. "That's rough, Takamura," she granted. "You're risking more jail time, this time until you're 18, and you're still going anyway?"

Jin nodded. "Like I was telling Scarmon, I don't want to, but I have to."

"It's _that_ important?"

"It's _that_ important."

Shannon whistled appreciatively. "I'm really sorry, Jin. I was starting to like rooming with you. You're the most interesting thing that's happened to this hostel since that kid that was adopted by circus clowns."

She took a step forward and Jin tensed up. Now that he was standing, he realized that he was a few inches taller than her. She looked up into his clear, gray eyes with sympathy. Then, before he knew what was happening, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. It was only a small hug, a tiny embrace and a slight squeeze, but the sudden contact made his blood rush and he couldn't decide which to be cursing more: his hair-trigger blush reflex, or the fact that he was stiff as a board while she was hugging him.

The hug only lasted a second and it was obvious that Shannon's only intent was to comfort him, but Jin still felt dizzy as he waved goodbye to her when she walked out the door. Returning to his wheelchair, he found it hard to keep from giggling like an idiot.

"Do you have any idea how stupid you looked when she hugged you?" Scarmon asked.

"Shut up, I'm still new at this," Jin grumbled. "We've got work to do. First off, since we're probably going to have to drive, we'll need to get a car."

"How do we do that?" Scarmon asked.

"Since I'm planning to break the law and skip town anyway," he reasoned, "I think good old 'grand theft auto' is a good plan."

* * *

Lying on his bed, his hands folded behind his head, Michael stared up at the ceiling. He'd never seen his father so serious. It wasn't that he'd never disobeyed him, but he'd never done something so horrendously disobedient as what he had been doing.

People always thought it would be wonderful having a movie star for a father. In reality, he hated it. That's why he never told Davis when they'd met. Mimi didn't seem to care; when he'd told her, she'd only said, "Oh, that's nice!" in that sweet voice of hers. What a lot of people didn't realize, Mimi included, was that being the son of a famous movie star was a constant hassle. He loved his father, but the man was always going to Hollywood or to some exotic location to film the latest blockbuster while Michael preferred to stay at home, so he frequently went for long periods of time without seeing his father. At school, the drama teacher with high expectations always wanted Michael to act in a play and, after being "encouraged" by his father ("badgered" was more like it, he thought) he usually gave in and starred in the lead role. He was a good enough actor, but it was obvious to anyone with a good eye that he didn't have his father's talent. His real passion was for music, for his beloved violin. But when he had a recital or a concert or anything in which he could show his real talent for music, his father was usually busy. If he did show up, he never had anything much to say about it; he always said, "You should really try a fast tune next time, son."

"What are we going to do, Michael?" Betamon asked.

"I don't know, Betamon," Michael replied. "Dad could give us a ride, but he obviously doesn't want to. He's definitely not going to let us take a car. I have to go with the others, but I don't see how that's possible. Dad will never let me out of here."

Just then, there came a knock on his door. "Go away," he replied sullenly.

"Michael!" Mimi cried behind the door.

Michael sat bolt upright. "Mimi!" he exclaimed, rushing over to the door. He opened it and saw her standing in the doorway. The soft glow of the hall lights gave her hair and her skin a pale radiance that made her look like she was glowing. _Radiant._

"I'm glad to see you," he said happily.

"Can I come in?"

"Of course!" he said, letting her in, shutting the door behind her. _It looks like Dad's cutting me a little slack,_ he thought. _I'm not supposed to have any friends while I'm grounded, but he must have made an exception for her. He probably knew how angry I would have been if he turned her away._

"Michael, we need you."

"I need you too," he murmured dreamily.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that, what did you say?" she asked, leaning forward.

"No, just thinking out loud," he replied quickly.

Mimi crossed her arms. "Michael, we're going to Mexico and you have to come with us."

"I want to come," he told her, "but I don't know how to get away from my father."

"Jin's already thought of a plan for that."

"Oh, well that's just great!" he exploded, causing Mimi to jump back. "Once again, we're saved because Jin has an idea! Well that's too bad! Not this time! Every time he has an idea, some law gets broken and I end up getting in trouble for it! I'll think of my own plan, if that's all right with you!"

"No, it's not all right with me!" Mimi cried, stamping her foot. "Michael, this is too important for you to stay mad at Jin. You almost killed him yesterday because you lost your temper. I'm not mad at you for it, but you two have to work together or we're never going to get anything done! I hate fighting and I'm not going to stand around and watch you two kill each other! I know you don't like Jin because of what he did to you last year, and I guess I can't blame you, but please try to get along with him for the rest of us."

"Mimi..." He looked away, feeling somewhat ashamed.

"Please, Michael," she entreated, taking his hand with hers emphatically, "just hear me out."

His reluctance lost before her earnest persistence, he finally nodded. "What's the plan?"

"Jin's got a car. Tomorrow, we're going to start driving to Mexico. He thinks we can make it in about four or five days."

"Okay, I'll start packing."

"Oh, and do you have any money you can bring?"

Michael's expression turned sour. "I knew it! He wants me to pay for the whole trip, doesn't he?"

"Jin didn't ask," Mimi told him with an angry frown, putting her hands on her hips impatiently. "I'm asking you, because this is probably going to cost a lot of money for gas, food and motels. Jin only got a little bit from the prison; other than that, he's broke. I'm bringing some and so is Amanda."

"All right, all right, I'll chip in," he agreed. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning. If you can sneak out of here by five o'clock, we'll be waiting outside."

"We'll be there," Betamon told her. "Right, Michael?"

Michael nodded to his partner. "Yes," he said. "I'll meet you there."

Mimi smiled. "Thank you," she said. "We'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Michael."

Michael walked her to the door and then returned to his room, a new determination burning within him.

"So, we're disobeying your father?" Betamon asked.

"I guess we have to," he replied, packing his things in a duffle bag. "I'm not a little kid anymore and I'm tired of always doing what he says. Besides, he doesn't even understand how serious this is."

"So, in other words," Betamon said, changing his voice to sound almost exactly like Michael's father's, "this is for his own good."

"Yeah," Michael laughed. "Come on. We'll have to get this done and get some sleep if we're going to meet the others at five AM." Then another thought occurred to him. "Hey, Betamon, can you do an impression of Dad again?"

* * *

Michael peeked out from behind the bushes near the front door of his house. Sneaking out of the house was easy, but a high wall surrounded the whole area and he was reasonably certain he couldn't climb it. The place was crawling with security guards and the front gate was the only way out, and his father had made it clear that Michael was not allowed out of the house until he said so. In other words, there was no chance of convincing someone on the grounds to let him out. Sneaking out of his own house shouldn't be this complicated.

"Okay, Betamon," Michael whispered, "let's see if your practice paid off or if we have to tunnel out of here."

Betamon nodded and hopped toward another set of bushes nearby the gate. Henderson, the front guard, sat in his booth, drinking a cup of coffee, yawning in boredom.

"Henderson!" Betamon shouted, doing a much-improved impression of Mr. Washington.

"Sir?" Henderson called, now wide awake. "Sir, where are you?"

"I'm in the tree!" Betamon answered, throwing his voice to sound like Mr. Washington really was in one of the large oak trees on the estate.

Henderson got up from his post and walked over the tree. "What are you doing up there, sir?"

"I was working on my tree-climbing in case I get the lead in _Jungle Jim versus the Cyber Monkeys_ and I got stuck."

Both Michael and Betamon had a hard time keeping themselves from laughing. Michael marveled at how creative his partner could be at times.

"What can I do, sir?" Henderson asked.

"Get a ladder!" ordered 'Mr. Washington.' "There's one around back! Hurry, I'm slipping!"

"Yes, sir!" Henderson complied, running to the back of the house and out of sight.

Michael ran from the bushes, over to the guard booth and hit the button to open the gates. "Come on, Betamon, before he comes back!"

"Right behind you!" Betamon said, following him out the gates as they opened.

"That was great," Michael told him. "I don't know about me, but you could definitely go into show business."

"Aw shucks."

The two were interrupted as a green station wagon pulled up to the curb. Mimi was at the wheel with Jin and Amanda in the back seat. "Come on, Michael!" she hollered.

Michael opened the door and got in. Mimi drove away swiftly as he passed his luggage back to Jin and Amanda.

"Okay, now did everybody go before we left or do we need to make a pit stop?" Penguinmon asked jokingly.

"An old station wagon?" Michael asked, looking to Jin. "Couldn't you have hotwired a nicer car than this?"

"First of all," Jin retorted, "we needed a nice big car that we could fit all our luggage, all of us, and our digimon."

"And second," Scarmon interjected, "Jin didn't even steal this car. Some guy gave it to him."

"Scarmon—" Jin warned.

"Yeah, it was the weirdest thing," Scarmon went on, ignoring him. "Jin went to a discount clothing store and bought a nice red blazer and some black pants and stood outside this fancy restaurant. Some guy drove right up in this thing, got out, and gave Jin his keys before he went inside. All we needed was to buy some new license plates from this guy named Silly Pete in the Bronx and we were on our way!"

Jin knuckled Scarmon in the head and looked at the others sheepishly.

"Oh, Jin," Mimi said, shaking her head. "You posed as a valet?"

"Well, I made sure it was insured," he told her. "According to his papers in the glove box, the guy will get enough from the insurance company to buy a lot better than this hunk of junk."

"That's still pretty sleazy," Amanda remarked.

"That's not just sleazy, that's grand theft auto!" Michael cried.

"Yeah, that's what it's called," Scarmon said. "It was fun. I like that game, we should play it again sometime."

Michael banged his head against the window exasperatedly. In more ways than one, this was going to be the longest road trip of his entire life.

**To be continued…**

_(Next time: The group is finally on their way, but is this roa__d trip across the country a smooth ride, or are there more serious bumps in the road? Like you need to ask?)_

_(P.S. Remember, you should always wear a seatbelt when riding in a car, and always leave a review when reading a fanfic!)  
_


	6. Motels and Cowboys and Vilemon

**Chapter Six:**

**Motels and Cowboys and Vilemon  
**

_Day One-_

Jin looked out the back window. The proud city of New York was gradually shrinking away from him, like a paradise lost. All he'd really dreamt of for the past several years was behind them and he was leaving it, probably for good. He wondered if it was worth it. After all, what good was saving the world if he couldn't even live his life as he wanted? If he left New York, what else was there? Either prison or a life as a fugitive: those were the only futures he was leaving himself. So why bother ensuring either one of them would come to pass?

Then he looked to Mimi, sitting in the driver's seat, a warm smile on her face. She had been the best friend he could have ever asked for, save for Scarmon, and had done more to save his humanity than anyone else ever had, and she had done it for no other reason than the goodness of her own heart. It was part of who she was to reach out to him, amid his rage and confusion, and offer him her friendship. Michael knew that about her, the other Digidestined back in Japan probably knew that, and now Jin knew it. If the world ended, then that would mean the end of Mimi, and all the things that she loved. If not for himself, he supposed that there were others worth fighting for.

He wondered if this was what it meant to be one of the "good guys." As long as he'd lived, he'd always considered himself one of the "bad guys," always getting himself into trouble, always beating someone up, always breaking some law, and never really caring for anyone other than himself. And even when he and Scarmon had been stomping through the Digital World, hunting down rogue digimon and the soldiers of the Dark Masters, they had still been the bad guys, more feared than loved. But was he really one of the good guys, or was he just being the same selfish guy he'd always been? After all, he was essentially saying, "I don't care what happens to the rest of the world; I just care what happens to my friends." That was kind of selfish, when he thought about it. Mimi probably didn't feel that way. Mimi probably wanted the world to be safe. She probably cared deeply about other people, people she didn't even know.

He wished he didn't have to deal with these things. He just wanted to live a normal life without having to decide if he was good or bad. If he could stay at the hostel, take care of himself and Scarmon, it would be so much easier. But he was needed, so that was all there was to it. Even so, he told himself that he could never again give up this kind of freedom. Being able to walk in the outdoors was a wonderful sensation, and he wouldn't have it if he returned to New York and faced jail time.

He had made up his mind. No matter what happened, he would never return to New York again. It was a paradise that wasn't meant to be his.

_"Sayonara, _New York," he whispered.

"Did you say something, Jin?" Amanda asked.

"Just thinking, that's all," he replied.

* * *

The moon was a mere sliver in the night sky, casting only a pale glow upon the face of the Digital World. Bobbing easily on the sea, a boat quietly drifted towards the bank of a sleepy island. On board, eight figures watched the gigantic landmass with greedy eyes. This was where they would fulfill their mission.

"It'sss clossse now," one of them hissed.

"Say it, don't spray it, babe," another grumbled.

"Enough of your tired clichés. We should be conversing on what areas we'll be taking. I have my own of course," said the third.

"Agreed," another added.

"Me call jungle!"

"Almost all of it is jungle, ya lunkhead!"

"Shut up or I swear I'll blow my stack!"

"All of you be quiet or they'll hear us coming!" the last one growled. "We'll just take the areas that suit us best. There's plenty of this continent to go around. If we work together, we should be able to eliminate our targets."

"The Digidessstined?" one asked. "They're only children. They don't stand a chance against usss."

"Don't underestimate them," another admonished sternly. "Our new master said that they are inexperienced, but they could prove worthy opponents if we give them time. We must agree to take this seriously, or we will not survive."

"I don't know why we're agreeing to this anyway. We've never worked for anyone but ourselves in the past."

"The rewards we will reap from doing this will be worth our while," came the reply. "And if we don't, he'll kill us. You saw what happened: we all attacked him together for invading our lair and we couldn't even scratch him. He truly is the most powerful being I've ever seen."

"Yeah, well, as long as he pays us, who cares? Besides, this is the first time we get to take over an entire continent."

The others agreed with that. One of the most lethal gangs the Digital World had ever known was about to unleash total chaos on this isolated landmass in the middle of the ocean. They had a few days to prepare, and then the Digidestined would come. Their orders were clear: destroy them and their digimon, or they would be destroyed themselves.

And after a moment's thought about meeting their ends at the hands of that horrible creature, with his blood red eyes and dark face that intimated an even darker heart… the choice was easy. Either they would kill the Digidestined or they would die trying.

* * *

"We could do better in a Roach Motel," Michael grumbled upon seeing their room.

"Shut up and get used to it, rich boy," Jin snapped, shoving him out of the way as he stepped inside. "Sooner or later we'll be camping out in the Digital World, and then you'll be begging for a room with a bed and shower."

"This room smells funny," Mimi remarked, wrinkling her nose.

"I can't tell," Palmon said smugly.

"That's because you don't have a nose," Penguinmon reminded her as he held his flippers over his beak.

"I know," she laughed. "But I do feel sorry for you guys. Especially Scarmon."

Scarmon, whose sense of smell was easily the best, was having a hard time keeping from gagging. "I hate to agree with Michael, Jin, but we've got to get a better room."

"Come on, you used to live in the sewers, this can't be that bad."

"What do you smell, Scarmon?" Betamon asked him.

"You really don't want to know."

Michael rolled his eyes. He would have pressed the issue if he wasn't so tired. It was late and they had been driving half the day. The ride had been excruciating so far. The first problem was the music they all wanted to listen to. Mimi wanted to listen to Mister Children, a Japanese band, Amanda had a Barkenaked Ladies CD, Jin brought some hard rock, and Michael had wanted to listen to some Beethoven. The discussion had been settled when they agreed that whoever was driving would get to pick their own music, with Mimi volunteering some of her time for Amanda (since no one wanted to let her drive - something that also sparked vocal protest from their youngest member). Of course, while it worked in theory, it didn't fly so well in reality: Jin turned the music up too loudly and drove aggressively, Amanda sulked that she wasn't getting as much music time as the rest of them, and nearly everyone had turned on Michael after only twenty minutes of Beethoven, forcing him to turn it off and switch to the radio.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the digimon were extremely restless. Scarmon refused to duck when they were passing other cars and instead made faces at other people's pets. Palmon complained that it was too hot in the car and she insisted on making pit stops every half hour to get some fresh air. Penguinmon and Betamon got involved in a staring contest, a poking match, then, at the disastrous suggestion of Mimi, a game of "Spot the Car." This last game was cut short when Michael yelled at them for picking stupid categories like "spot the car with four wheels" and "spot the car with headlights."

"Look, let's just get some sleep," Michael suggested. "We've still got a long way to go, especially with all the stops we made." Here he glared at Palmon, who stuck her tongue out at him.

"Okay, let's call beds!" Amanda said enthusiastically. "I call whichever one Michael or Jin pick."

"W-what?" Jin exclaimed, blushing slightly.

"You don't really want to share a bed with Michael, do you?" she asked, winking.

"Oh, stop playing around Amanda!" Mimi laughed. "The girls will take the first bed and the digimon will take the second one."

"What?" Michael demanded. "Where will Jin and I sleep?"

"On the floor, silly!"

"Hey, I'm liking this plan!" Scarmon spoke up.

"Why should we sleep on the floor? The digimon take up less room, they could share a sleeping bag," Michael suggested. "And chivalry aside, isn't that sexist? Why should the guys give up their bed and not the girls?"

"Well, us girls need our beauty rest," Mimi smirked.

"Yeah, we're delicate young flowers!" Amanda chipped in.

"Abandoning feminism to get a soft bed, eh?" Michael grumbled.

"And the digimon will be doing most of the fighting later on," Mimi continued, "so the least we can do is pamper them when we can and let them take the bed."

"Can we at least take a vote?"

"Sure!" Amanda agreed. "All in favor of the 'Bed-for-Girls-and-Digimon' plan, please say 'Aye!'"

"Aye!" said Mimi, Amanda, and the four digimon, raising their hands or claws or flippers respectively.

"All opposed?" Amanda asked.

"Nay," Michael grumbled. He noticed Jin didn't say anything. "Hey, aren't you going to back me up?"

"Nope," Jin said. "I'm getting my sleeping bag. Quit whining and get yours."

"Um…"

Jin smacked his forehead. "You didn't bring a sleeping bag did you?"

Michael shook his head. "How are you going to survive when we have to go to the Digital World? We'll have to buy you a bag tomorrow. Tonight, you can sleep in the bathtub."

"The bathtub?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah, just pad it with some towels and you'll be fine."

Michael rubbed his forehead wearily. After a long day's drive, all he wanted was a nice, soft bed to sleep in. The fact that he wasn't going to get one made the bathtub seem all the more cramped and uncomfortable.

* * *

_Day Two-_

"Good morning, Mike!" Jin hollered to Michael the next morning.

"Go away, Jin," Michael told him.

"Come on, Michael, get out of the tub."

"What... ugh, what time is it?"

"7 AM."

"I'm tired and I didn't get to sleep until 2 AM."

"So?"

"So get lost," he grumbled. "I'm going to try and sleep in a little bit."

Jin poked his head through the shower curtain and frowned at him. "I _really_ think you'll want to get out of that tub."

Michael cracked open one bloodshot eye looked at him for a moment, then rolled over and continued to sleep.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Jin told him, leaving him to rest.

Michael grumbled in response and tried to relax. He was slowly drifting off and he was at the edge of sleep when he heard a soft, soothing sound. It sounded very much like a lullaby and he was about to fall asleep when he realized that the sound wasn't just in his own head. Someone was humming to themselves in the bathroom.

This revelation caused his eyes to go wide and he caught a glimpse of a hand turning the knob for the shower. As the water sprayed all over him, he gave an angry yell and leapt to his feet, getting out of the tub. He turned to the person who'd turned the water on and he was about to yell at them when he saw who it was.

Mimi stood there, a look of absolute shock on her face. Her hair had been let down and she was wearing nothing except for a pink towel wrapped around her body. The two of them stared at each other in silence, both blushing profusely.

It was then that Mimi finally reacted. _"Aaaaah! Get out, get out!"_ she screeched, and slapped him across the face.

Michael ran out of the bathroom, the red handprint shape on his face still quite visible. The digimon were all sitting at the edge of the bed. Jin was leaning against the wall, a wide grin on his face. "I told you," he said.

"Shut up." He rubbed his face, feeling the sting, but really feeling worse about what Mimi must think of him. "Just shut up."

"Is he always this grumpy in the morning, Betamon?" Scarmon asked with a grin.

"Leave him alone! Michael, are you okay?" Betamon asked concernedly.

Michael was about to reply when Mimi, now clad in her pink bathrobe, came out and walked up to Michael. He took a step back, not wanting another slap in the face.

"Oh, Michael, I'm sorry," she apologized, an expression of deep concern on her face. "I didn't mean to hit you, but you surprised me. Jin didn't _tell me_ you were still in the tub." To everyone's surprise, she shot a glare at Jin, and now it was his turn to look uncomfortable. Then she turned back to Michael and put her hand gently to his cheek, examining the welt carefully. "I'm so sorry, Michael. Did I hurt you?"

"No, I think I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

He smiled. "Yes, I'm fine," he reassured her. "Please don't worry about it."

"All right," she said, relieved. "I'll just be a few minutes. Why don't you get something to eat and we'll leave in a little while."

"Okay," he said, smiling serenely.

As Mimi left, Penguinmon leaned over to Betamon. "Yeah, I think Michael's feeling better already," he chuckled.

As Michael left to go get breakfast, Scarmon turned to Jin. "You okay, partner?"

Jin shuddered. "Mimi's 'Death Glare' is kinda terrifying."

* * *

The hotel was cheap, that was certain, but it did have a small dining area with a buffet-style continental breakfast, so that was something. Michael walked in and found Amanda sitting down to a stack of pancakes smothered in butter and syrup.

"That looks good," he said, his own stomach growling. "Is that real maple syrup?"

"Actually, it is!" she said, stuffing a large bite of pancakes in her mouth. "An' iv you mayg a johg abou Canada," she said with her mouth full before swallowing, "I'll slug you."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said with a smile, holding his hands up defensively as he sat down. As nutty and awkward as the girl was, he somehow felt a real kinship with her.

"Then again," Amanda remarked. "Papa usually does make pancakes like these on Sunday."

"Our cook makes some excellent sourdough pancakes as well."

"Pfft. 'Our cook.' No wonder Jin calls you 'rich boy,'" Amanda scoffed, although her indignance was ruined when her belly gurgled loudly. "Er, sorry," she said, cringing. "But sourdough pancakes sound goooood right about now."

"I was just saying that the food you can get at home is always special," he said. "Although I think you and my father would love sharing some _onigiri_ some time."

"Ooh, I've never had one!"

"Really? As much as you love Japan?"

"Well, I've never actually _been_ there, ya know," she said, sighing, "and it's not like my tiny town has much in the way of exotic food, unless you count Chinese takeout."

"I don't."

She laughed. "Neither do I. Say, speaking of your dad, he must have been a hard sell for this trip, eh?"

"'Eh?'" Michael echoed mischievously, earning a punch in the shoulder. "Sorry. And you're not kidding."

She took a long drink of orange juice as she nodded. "Figured. Otherwise he would have lent us a car or driven us instead of making us find our own car."

"Making us... wait, Amanda, he doesn't know where I went."

"What?" she cried. "You didn't even leave a note for him?"

"I... didn't want him to try and come after us."

"Ugh, that bad?" she asked, wincing. "Sheesh. I'm glad my parents and Mimi's are more understanding."

"Wait, Mimi's?" Michael demanded. "They know about all this? Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I was staying with her, remember? There was a lot of hugging and crying and stuff," she said, making a gagging gesture, "but they said they were proud of her and believed in her."

Michael leaned back, taking that bit of news in. He'd seen how calmly Amanda's parents had taken the news, but hadn't realized that Mimi's parents had also given their approval. That meant that he and Jin were now the only ones who were, in a manner of speaking, fugitives. It made him uncomfortable, both for the realization that his own relationship with his father wasn't as strong as the relationships Mimi and Amanda enjoyed, and also because of the similarity to Jin.

He shrugged it off. "Well, good for both of you," he said finally.

"Yeah, I- what's that red mark on your face?"

"Oh, uh, nothing, don't worry about it."

"It looks like it hurts." She looked at him sidewise, blushing slightly. "W-want me to kiss it and make it better?" she asked, trying to sound sly.

Michael chuckled. "No thanks, I don't want to get syrup all over _my_ face too."

Blushing profusely, she picked up a napkin and began wiping her face vigorously while Michael went for some bacon and eggs.

* * *

After they'd all eaten breakfast, the eight of them checked out and were on their way once again. The energy of the morning quickly wore off on them, though, and the group became tired and bored. Michael, after his rough night, slept in the backseat as Jin drove. Periodically, someone else would yawn and even Mimi wasn't energetic enough to suggest something to pass the time.

Amanda was the only one who seemed to be doing much of anything. Mimi noticed her writing in a notebook she carried with her. Curiosity and boredom finally won out and she asked her what she was writing.

"I'm writing an essay on themes of life and death as well as reality and fantasy as they are portrayed throughout the _Cowboy Bebop_ series, especially with regard to theories of existentialism and nihilism that some otaku claim are advocated by it. Personally, I prefer ideas of afterlife metaphors in the main character's struggle that culminates in the final chapter of the series."

Mimi blinked several times. "Oh."

"You wanna hear my essay on gender roles and themes of Yin and Yang scattered throughout _Ranma ½_?"

"Maybe later," Mimi replied nervously.

"At least it's not yaoi fanfiction this time," Penguinmon remarked.

"Geh! Shut up about that!" Amanda hissed.

Mimi blinked. "Oh," she said. "You don't, um... have any of that with you, do you, Amanda?"

"What's going on?" Michael asked, waking up with a yawn.

"Mimi and I were discussing postmodern theory applied to anime," Amanda informed him.

"We were?" Mimi asked, trying to keep up with the younger girl, who suddenly got a mischievous look in her eyes.

"And then Mimi asked about-"

"It's girl talk, you'd hate it!" Mimi said quickly.

Michael yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Well, all right." He then sat up and looked around out through the windows. "Uh, Jin... how fast are you going?" he asked, his voice laced with panic.

"About 85."

"Uh-oh."

"Michael, are you going to start complaining already?"

"I wouldn't normally, since we're in a hurry, but there's a police car coming up behind us and—"

Jin's eyes darted to the rearview mirror. He'd been so focused on driving the car that he hadn't even noticed the cop pulling up behind him. No sooner did they notice when the police cruiser's lights began flashing and the siren started to blare.

"Oh no," he whimpered in sudden fear. "Oh no no no…"

"Jin, what's wrong?" Mimi asked.

"We're speeding in an out-of-state car that's probably been reported stolen and I'm violating parole." He looked to her, his eyes frightened. "We're in deep trouble, especially me."

"Think we can make a run for it?" Scarmon asked.

"Let's try something else first, okay?" Amanda suggested calmly. "Hey, do you guys think we can all fit in the back underneath the luggage?"

* * *

Officer Greenfield of the West Virginia State Police made careful note of the out-of-state license plate and the type of car and the speed he'd clocked it at. If he had been paying closer attention, he would have scene a large figure jump from the front seat to the back of the station wagon. In any case, he was all ready to write these people a ticket when he got out of his squad car. The heat outside was blistering and the mosquitoes were particularly bad in the area. Looking over the rolling green hills, he wished he was home instead of issuing speed-demons traffic tickets. _New Yorkers,_ he thought. _I'm gonna get an earful. _He walked over to the driver's side door and rapped on the window for them to roll it down. His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw who was inside.

"Good morning officer," Betamon greeted him. "Is there a problem?"

"Uh… do you know…" he blinked several times before looking at Betamon clearly.

"Honey, I thought you said you got that tail light fixed!" Palmon said from the passenger's side, Mimi's purse hanging around her shoulder.

"Get off my back, woman! I'm sorry, officer, my wife and I were in kind of a hurry," Betamon said, "but I thought I was going the speed limit. Or is there something else that's wrong?"

"Daddy, Billy's on my side!" Penguinmon whined, pointing at Scarmon.

"You are such a liar, Bobby!" Scarmon said, shoving him roughly.

"Kids, you be quiet or I will turn this car around and take us back to Syracuse so fast it will make your head spin! Now, let Daddy talk to the officer."

The officer was really feeling the heat now. _Great,_ he thought, _I'm hallucinating that these people are a frog, a plant, a penguin, and a lizard. Heat's finally getting to me._

"Officer, are you all right?" Palmon asked. "You don't look so good."

"Y-yes, I'm fine," Officer Greenfield said. "Um, I'm just going to give you a verbal warning, let you get on your way Mr… uh…"

"Marty McFrog," Betamon said automatically.

"—Yeah, that," Greenfield said, hurrying. "Just watch your speed going down those hills and, uh, drive safely, sir. You kids mind your father, okay?"

"We will, sir," the 'kids' agreed.

The officer then got in his cruiser and left. The children all poked their heads out from underneath the luggage in the back when they thought it was safe.

"I can't believe he bought it," Michael said.

"Naturally," Amanda said.

"But 'Marty McFrog?' What were you thinking?"

"That was sweet!" Scarmon said. "We've got to try that again sometime."

"Okay, now let's let Mimi drive," Palmon said.

"Forget that!" Betamon cried. "I'm driving this thing to Mexico! We're going to go crazy in Cancun!"

"Betamon…" Michael warned.

"Or we could let Mimi drive," he chuckled sheepishly.

* * *

_Day Three-_

He drummed his fingers on the arm of the park bench. Looking out upon the green grass and the trees and smelling the sweet scent of flowers in the summer air, all he could think of was death. Death to all these people, death to the grass, death to the trees, death to the flowers and the warmth of summer and bright sun in the sky overhead. All of it had to go.

He was getting very anxious now. No, not anxious. Excited. He felt like a kid on Christmas Eve. There was so much left to do, but it all began tomorrow. The Digidestined would come and he would give them a little taste of what was to come. Yes, just enough for a warm up, because, after all, there was still one more kid they had to find for him. For some reason, he couldn't sense this last one. Whoever he was, he was something else. Something special.

_Patience,_ he told himself. _I have waited a long, long time for this. I wait forever for these battles, but then they come and go, and it all begins again. But then, this is special. I've never had foes like these. So pure, so delicate, and so much more fun to kill than digimon. Yes, digimon just get deleted, but humans can be bent and broken in so many places and can make so many different sounds of agony. Music to my ears. And I've never been so strong before. I will succeed this time. I can hardly wait._

He took a deep breath. "If I get any more tense, I might just kill something to blow off steam."

A small _chirp_ was heard nearby. A tiny bird hopped lightly over to the bench, no doubt expecting a bread crumb or something similar. It looked up at him expectantly.

"Not your day, birdie," the Dark One said, turning his head and looking the bird right in the eyes.

The bird was momentarily transfixed by the horrid face that seemed to fill its entire universe, the darkness there so vast and complex that it couldn't help but stare. Then, its fragile mind giving out under the unbearble strain of looking into that gaze, it gave one last little sputtering peep and fell over, dead from a brain aneurysm.

He chuckled. "I guess that'll tide me over for now, birdie," he muttered. "Those kids will get theirs soon enough. They should be in Dallas by tonight. And tomorrow, their little road trip will bring them right into my hands."

* * *

_Day Four-_

The four of them sat in the booth at the small roadside diner. Jin and Amanda were on one side, Michael and Mimi on another. Below the table, tucked into bags as well as they could manage, their digimon waited patiently to be fed their own respective meals.

_"Mimi-chan, '_grits' _wa nani desu ka?"_ Jin asked, his syllabic Japanese standing out among the elongated Texan accents surrounding them.

"I'm not really sure," she said.

"They're a little bit like cream of wheat without the cream," Michael informed him.

"Hmm… is it good with jalapeños?" he asked. "They have that as an option."

"I guess so," he replied.

"Hey, can you get me some sausage links?" Scarmon requested from beneath the table.

"Quiet!" Jin hissed. "We're trying to keep a low profile!"

"If you want me to keep quiet, get me some breakfast before I get really loud!"

"Shh!" Mimi said, putting her finger to her lips. "I promise everyone will get enough to eat, just be quiet!"

"Yeah, it looks like they're serving lunch items, too," Amanda commented.

"Great, I could use club sandwich," Michael said.

Their waitress came over to the table and asked if they were ready.

"I'd like a club sandwich with a salad, please," Michael ordered.

"Two salads for me," Mimi followed.

"French fries and gravy," Amanda said.

"Beg pardon, hon?" the waitress asked.

"Poutine," Amanda replied. "It's a Canadian thing: y'all wouldn't understand."

The waitress smiled. "It's not on the menu, but I'll getcha the hookup, hon."

"I'll have a roast beef sandwich and some sausage links," Jin ordered.

"And the side?"

"Sorry?"

"Sandwich comes with a side," the waitress said. "Soup 'r salad?"

Jin blinked. "What's a 'super salad?'"

"It's the option. Soup 'r salad comes with it."

"Then what kinds of super salad do you have?"

Michael rubbed his forehead. Jin's English was making him stand out here in Texas. He was having trouble understanding the different regional accent and he pronounced the last word less like "salad" and much more like "sarado." His L's still needed some work.

"No, no, hon, I don't think you get it. I'm just asking if you'd like soup 'r salad," the waitress said.

"I heard you," Jin said loudly, resenting the idea that he didn't understand English well enough to understand the concept of a super salad. He had no idea why Mimi and Amanda were snickering, but he was going to get his food no matter what. "Could you please tell me what's _in_ a super salad?"

"No, hon, I—"

"Jin, you dope!" Michael yelled. "It's Soup." A long pause. "Or." Another long pause. "Salad!"

Jin blinked and nodded slowly, seeming to understand. "Oh," he said. "Yeah, I will have one of those," he ordered confidently.

Michael threw his arms up and gave up on trying to help. "Just bring him the salad, okay?" he asked, winking at the waitress knowingly.

"Oh, okay," she said, nodding back as she wrote down the order.

"Jin's probably not used to hearing the American southern accent, is he?" Michael asked Mimi in a whisper.

"He's still new at this," Mimi told him defensively. "I have to work to understand it sometimes."

"Well, this isn't going to be much better when we get to Mexico," he said. "We better hope to find someone who speaks clear English!"

Jin looked up as if he heard then and looked like he was about to say something, but he kept quiet instead and remained quiet until his food came.

"Hey!" he complained. "This looks like a regular salad to me!"

* * *

Mimi was in the bathroom, wrinkling her nose and trying not to inhale as she washed her hands when Amanda came running in.

"Mimi! Mimi!" she cried breathlessly.

"What is it, Amanda?" Mimi asked, toweling her hands.

"The car! It… come quick!" she cried, and took off again.

Mimi followed the younger girl outside and to the place where the station wagon was parked.

Or, at least, where it _was_ parked.

"I don't believe it," Michael murmured.

"Someone…" Amanda panted, "someone stole… stole our…"

"Someone stole our car!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Yeah... they stole our..."

"_Oi, _are you that out of shape?" Jin asked, noticing how out of breath she was despite the short run to get Mimi. "Next time we stop, lay off the french fries and gravy, okay?"

"Shut up, I'm... I'm just in shock..."

"Are you in shock at how fat you're get- ow!" he exclaimed when she kicked him in the shin.

"Just ignore him, Amanda," Michael said. Mimi stepped up to Jin, giving him his second Death Glare of the day.

"Call her that again and it'll be your other shin!" she said in full-on big sister mode.

"All right, all right, it was just a joke. Well, anyway, it's a good thing we took out our luggage to carry our digimon with us," Jin said. "Without our stuff and our partners we'd really be in trouble."

"You don't think we're in trouble now?" Michael asked incredulously.

"You need to start taking valium," Jin told him, annoyed. "Someone _else_ stole _our_ stolen car. That's one less thing for us to worry about."

"Yeah, and he didn't even get it playing that 'grand theft auto' thing," Scarmon said.

Jin chuckled at his partner's naïve comment and started walking towards the open road.

"What are you doing?" Amanda asked.

Jin stuck out his thumb as a car passed by. "Hitchhiking," he replied.

"We can't hitchhike!" Mimi cried. "I mean, I've done it in Japan, but it was a lot safer there than it is here!"

"We're carrying around our digimon. If we meet any creeps, they can take care of just about anything."

Michael came up to him and looked him dead in the eye. "And what about the fact that it's illegal?" he asked him.

"You're still hung up on a little thing like the law?" he asked. "You're fourteen and you drove that station wagon a couple of hundred miles across several states to get this far. You're carrying a fake ID I had made for you. You're trying to sneak across the border to Mexico and you've already done the same thing getting to Canada to find Amanda. What's a little hitchhiking after that?"

The rest of them were quiet. "He makes a good point," Amanda said.

"Yeah, I agree," Mimi added.

"Fine," Michael relented. "Do you have any other bright ideas, Jin?"

"Yeah, you and Mimi should be the ones to flag down cars," he suggested.

"Why's that?"

"Because you're the cute ones," he said. "Hey Mimi, think you can show a little leg?"

He got his reply when a large bag of Mimi's luggage hit him in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"'Show some leg…' hmph!" she sniffed, putting her nose in the air contemptuously.

* * *

"Oh, _great_ idea, Jin," Michael grumbled. "Of course. Hitchhiking. What a great idea. Only one question, if I may?"

"Shut up, Mike," Jin grumbled.

"If hitchhiking is such a good idea," he went on, ignoring him, "then why is it now almost nine o'clock at night and, instead of being in Mexico by now, we've still got at least six more hours of driving to get to the border and we're stuck in this miserable little podunk town called Arnette?"

"People aren't as generous to strangers as I thought they would be," Jin replied.

"I'm sorry, Jin," Mimi sighed, "but Michael's got a point. We haven't gotten a ride all day and my feet are killing me and we're never going to get to Mexico this way."

"And our digimon aren't doing much better," Amanda said. "We all have sunscreen on, but even without the sunburns, it was still too hot to be walking by the side of the highway trying to hitch a ride. Look at Penguinmon!"

Penguinmon, the least accustomed to such hot weather, was breathing hard as he leaned against Amanda's leg, his feathers ruffled and his footing unsure. He looked bad. Not sick, but bad enough that no one wanted to make him walk in the hot summer sun again.

"I guess you're right," Jin said. "But what do we do instead? We don't have the money to rent a car."

"Well, we could ask someone for a ride!" Mimi exclaimed with her typical positive outlook.

"Ask who?" Amanda asked tiredly. "This place looks like a ghost town. All the businesses shut down and it doesn't look like much of anyone's home. And who would give us a ride anyway?"

Mimi thought for a moment, furrowing her eyebrows as she scanned the area. Finally, she set her eyes on a small building with lighted windows and country western music playing noisily.

"We can ask someone in that bar!" she answered.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Michael said uneasily.

"Oh, you worry too much!" she laughed dismissively. "Besides, I know a way we can gain sympathy."

She grabbed her luggage and ran off to a portable toilet by the side of the road. She came out minutes later and presented herself to the others with a proud, "Ta-da!"

"If I could sweatdrop at will, I would be doing so right now," Amanda said, smiling weakly.

"I hear that," Penguinmon agreed.

Mimi was wearing a western-style dress with one of her notorious cowgirl hats on. She had also bravely changed into her cowgirl boots and put on a pair of gloves to finish the look off.

_"Dou? Kawaii?"_ she asked the two boys.

"_Very_ cute," Michael replied.

"Yeah, but do you really think the cowgirl look will work?" Jin asked doubtfully.

"Trust me."

* * *

"Howdy!" Mimi said to the crowd as she led the others into the bar.

Everyone continued talking, drinking, or listening to the jukebox obliviously.

Mimi frowned. "I said, 'HOWDY!'" she cheered again, this time much more loudly, her shrill voice cutting through the other sound.

This time almost everyone turned around and stared at the intruders. Mimi laughed nervously before regaining her nerve.

"Uh… say, can any of you nice boys take us to Mexico?" she requested.

Those who faced the group were silent for a moment. Then, every single one of them exploded in uproarious laughter.

"Hey, you kids don't belong here!" the bartender hollered.

"Yeah, we don't want your kind around here," shouted a patron.

"What?" Mimi asked in confusion.

Jin didn't like where this was going. All these cowboys had been drinking and they were obviously in a nasty mood and something told him that they were about to turn even nastier. He wasn't sure why, but his gut told him something was wrong about this place and they ought to leave. "Mimi," he whispered, trying to get her attention.

"Please, we just need a little help!" Mimi begged.

One of the men stood up and stepped right up to her. "Get outta here," he drawled. "Go play cowgirl somewhere else you little brat," he added, drawing murmurs of agreement from the others. "And go put on a kimono or something, we don't need some little Asian kid posing. Go back to China!"

Mimi couldn't believe her ears. She brought her hands to her mouth and backed up with wide, hurt eyes that glistened as they filled with tears.

"That's enough," Jin said firmly, stepping between the crude man and Mimi. "Not that it matters to you, but she and I are _Japanese._ Come on, you guys, let's go."

"Yeah yeah, take your yella boyfriend with you," the men called after them.

"Mimi, I'm sorry," Michael said, his heart aching at the sight of her wounded expression. Mimi had of course known that there was such prejudice in the world, but never in her life had she come face to face with it so blatantly.

"Don't worry," Jin told her in a voice loud enough for them to hear as he led her towards the exit. "We don't need help from these drunken rednecks."

The laughter died in an instant. Several of the men got up and blocked the door.

"You want to say that again, boy?" a man asked him.

Jin sneered. "Sorry, I'll say that slowly, since English is hard for you. I said 'We don't need these **drunken rednecks**,'" he repeated, clearly enunciating.

"Jin!" Michael warned him.

"Oh, you're dead!" the man said, taking a wild swing at Jin. The boy dodged the punch easily and countered with two quick blows to the stomach followed by an uppercut to the jaw that sent him flying back and onto the floor. The others, though surprised, moved in around them.

"This looks bad," Michael whispered to Betamon in the bag he carried. "One of you may need to digivolve."

"I've been trying!" Betamon cried desperately. "I'm just too tired from all that walking today."

Michael thought about the other digimon. Outside, all of them had seemed extremely tired. The heat and the exertion of walking all afternoon was too much for them. In all likelihood, none of them would be able to digivolve either. And the crowd was getting uglier, with Jin the only one with his fists up, ready to defend them.

Michael sighed, realizing there was no other way out.

"Think we can take them?" Michael asked Jin, putting his back to his, raising his fists as well.

"Michael, you don't know how to fight," Jin growled. "You've got fists the size of tangerines. Let me handle this."

"I've studied boxing a little bit since last time we had a fight," Michael told him proudly. "I've gotten better at fighting."

"Oh yeah?"

A man came at them suddenly, one arm drawn back and ready to strike. Michael turned to face him better and simply stepped forward, giving him a quick jab to the nose, sending him sprawling back.

"You little punk," his attacker snarled.

"I see," Jin said, looking over his shoulder and offering Michael a grin. "Well, something tells me Mimi and Amanda aren't the fighting type, so you'll have to do."

Michael nodded, seeing Mimi cowering behind Amanda, in spite of her shortness, while Amanda herself was armed with nothing except a screwdriver she was brandishing.

"We don't want any trouble!" Michael shouted to them. "We just want to leave."

"Well, it's too late for that, kids," said a booming voice from the back of the crowd. The wary cowboys parted a little and let forward a massive hulk of a man with a full beard, beady, dark eyes and big, yellow teeth barred in a ferocious grin. He looked to weigh about three-hundred pounds, but Jin was fairly sure that a good part of it was muscle. "I'm afraid we don't take kindly to being called rednecks by Japs, and smart-looking prep school boys, and… uh, miss, what are you anyway?"

"Canadian!" Amanda declared proudly.

"…And hockey pucks," he finished. "We're going to send you all back where you belong."

The cowboys moved forward menacingly. "So, again, do you think we can take them all?" Michael asked.

"I don't know," Jin replied. "There's a lot of them. If we can make it to the door and run for it, maybe—"

He was brought out of that train of thought when he looked up to see the wide end of a pool cue coming down at his head. He held his hands up defensively, knowing there was no time to do anything but hope he could deflect most of the blow with his arms.

It was then that he heard the cue connect with a dull _thump._ However, he felt no pain and looked to see that someone had caught the cue in midair and that someone was holding it in his hand now.

"No, no, that's not how you use it," the stranger chastised the attacker. He then yanked it from the man's grasp and quickly swatted him upside the head with it, then twirled in his fingers easily. He was a tall, slender man with a white hat. He was wearing a denim shirt over a white t-shirt along with blue jeans and brown work boots. He looked young, but had a confident, self-assured expression on his face.

"This isn't your business, mister," the huge man said.

"You tell him, Big Dan!" one of the cowboys cheered drunkenly.

"Big Dan, eh?" the stranger asked. "Well, let me introduce myself. The name's Jim Delgado. I was just passing through this town myself, didn't want no trouble, but it looks like trouble found me anyway."

"What are you doing?" Jin asked the man.

"Saving your butts," Delgado replied calmly. "Now, if you want them to whup you, I'll just take off, but if you'd rather be able to walk out of here on your own two legs, let me lend a hand."

"Jin, let him help!" Michael said.

"Fine," Jin said. "I hope you can fight."

"Same goes for you. I can't protect you on all four sides, kid."

"Ha! Just watch and learn."

The cowboys had heard enough talk and they all rushed the small group at once in what had now degenerated into a barroom brawl.

Jin punched his first opponent in the face, but another at his right socked him in the jaw. He responded by bringing his right elbow back into the man's gut, which knocked the wind out of him, making him double over so Jin could drop his left elbow onto the back of the man's lowered head, sending him the floor. This adversary gave way to two more, one of whom he kicked in the chest. However, balancing on one foot was still not something he was used to and he lost his balance. The other man of the pair ran forward, arm outstretched, and clotheslined him. With a choking gasp, he fell backwards and hit the ground.

Michael wasn't faring much better. His small jabs and hooks were unskilled, mere mimicry of things he had read about or seen on TV, so it was by pure luck and the drunkenness of his enemies that he was able to keep the first few at bay. He swung wildly at a third adversary, but the man merely leaned back to avoid the hit and punched him in the nose in retaliation. Michael staggered back, bumping into Mimi, who was too terrified to do much of anything.

"Mimi, are you all right?" he asked.

"Michael, look out!" she cried.

Michael did, but not quickly enough. Another man reached for him and seized him by the hair, pulling him forward and head-butting him. Stunned by the blow, he was helpless when the man punched him once in the belly, then lifted him into the air and threw him to the ground.

"Hey, Michael," Jin groaned, seeing him on the floor.

"What now?" he gasped.

"You say 'sayonara,' kids," one of the cowboys said, raising a booted foot with the intention of stomping on one of them.

He never brought that foot down, however, as Delgado, seemingly out of nowhere, barreled through him and several men close by, throwing the lot of them onto a nearby table.

"Get up, kids, I can't do this myself!" he yelled, continuing to fend off more of them.

After he got over his surprise at this feat of strength, Jin nodded and got to his feet. Michael, hurt worse than Jin, was slower about getting up, until he heard a gruff voice shout, "Get over here!" and the sound of Mimi crying out. He looked and saw one of the men yanking Mimi back by her hair. Burning with anger, he scrambled on his hands and knees and punched forward. Still low to the ground, his fist landed in the optimal place.

The man let out a high-pitched scream of pain and instantly let Mimi go.

"Oh my god, Mimi! Are you okay?" he asked her over the roar of the brawling crowd.

"I'm fine, but where's Amanda?" she asked.

Michael looked and saw her standing on the bar. The small girl then leapt onto the back of a man Jin was fighting and proceeded to pummel him in the head with the butt end of her screwdriver.

"Call me a hockey puck will you?" she shrieked at the man, who was desperately trying to get away from her and the strong kid he was fighting.

"I think she'll be all right," he said with a smile, impressed with the girl's sudden effort.

Jin, meanwhile, let Amanda finish off their opponent and moved to his next. Their numbers were thinning out and most had either backed away from the fight, ran from the bar, or were too hurt to keep fighting. There was a confident-looking man standing before him, though, and he was not intimidated by Jin's fighting prowess.

"Nice moves, Jap," he said. "You know Kung Fu or something?" he asked, swinging his foot high to kick Jin in the face.

Jin raised his hand and caught the man's foot. "No," he replied. "I just learned a few tricks dodging angry Monochromon." That said, he pulled the man forward by the leg, grabbed a hold of his shirt, hoisted him onto his back, then flipped him behind the bar. "You are no Monochromon."

No sooner had he done that than someone else ran up to him and punched him across the face. Jin barely flinched at the weak punch and turned to the man, who was timid-looking and a mere inch taller than himself. He spat blood to the side casually and looked him coldly in the eyes. The man was shaking. "Do that again," Jin ordered. "I dare you. Do that again and see what happens."

The man swallowed and ran off. Jin looked around him and saw that all the cowboys had been defeated, save for one.

Delgado, who had knocked out more of the men than Jin or Michael combined, hadn't a scrape on him and was now facing Big Dan, who stood nearly a foot taller.

"Welp, looks like you're the last one, Danny-boy," Delgado observed.

Big Dan cracked his knuckles and stepped forward. He froze when he heard a sound growing in the distance.

"The police!" Jin exclaimed, hearing the familiar sound of the siren.

Big Dan looked at Delgado menacingly. "You better not get in my way again, Jim Delgado," Dan warned. "If I ever see you again, it's your hide." That said, the enormous man turned and dashed out the back door of the bar.

Jin and the other Digidestined turned and ran out the front, all of them knowing how much trouble they'd be in for being in the bar alone.

"Wait!" Mimi shouted. "Where do we go now?"

The others had no idea what to do. The cowboys were fleeing the scene in their cars before the police showed up and it wasn't going to be easy to hide themselves. After all, four kids, two of them obviously foreigners, loaded down with luggage weren't going to be able to go much of anywhere unnoticed.

"Hey, you kids need a lift?" a familiar voice called.

"Mr. Delgado!" Amanda exclaimed.

Their new benefactor was at the wheel of a large, red pickup truck. "You're going to Mexico, right?"

"Yeah, can you help us?" Amanda asked.

"Well, we'll see about Mexico, but for now let's just high-tail it outta here! Two of you get in the cabin, the other two get in the back," he ordered. "Normally I don't pick up hitchhikers, but I don't normally get in bar fights for them either, so I guess it's your lucky day."

Mimi and Amanda took the cabin, while Jin and Michael hopped in the bed of the truck. Michael was about to make a comment about how dangerous it was to ride in the back of truck, but he decided that after he had just gotten in a fight with several cowboys in a Texas bar, protesting such means of transportation seemed kind of silly. His heart was still thundering in his chest and his legs were shaking from the adrenaline rush, but deep down he had to admit something to himself: this was the most fun he'd had the entire trip.

* * *

An hour later, once everyone was satisfied that they were far enough from the bar to avoid police detection, the small group found themselves at a rest stop. It was essentially abandoned, they being the only motorists parked in the empty parking lot. The kids went inside to get some snacks and drinks from the vending machines and stealthily slipped them to their digimon stowed away in their luggage.

"If I didn't get something to eat quick," Scarmon growled as he chewed his beef jerky, "I was going to start chewing on Jin's socks!"

"Well, thank goodness you got something, eh?" Penguinmon commented.

Jin looked outside the window at Delgado, who was leaning against a light-post, smoking a cigarette. He frowned, feeling somewhat ill-at-ease without really knowing why. Something was definitely wrong, but he couldn't figure out what. He had a gut feeling that something was going to happen and he wasn't really sure where the feeling came from. He looked out at the darkened fields surrounding them and couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. He put it out of mind and instead decided to focus on the man who had come to their rescue.

"Hey, Amanda, did you notice something about Jim?" he asked her.

"Yeah, he's kinda hot," she giggled.

Jin didn't bother talking to her any further and instead moved on to Michael, who was eyeing him as well.

"What do you think of Mr. Delgado?" Jin asked.

"He seems nice," Michael shrugged.

"Yeah, but don't you think he's a little bit weird?"

Michael thought for a moment. "Yes, actually I was thinking that a little earlier," he said. "Like the fact that he kept the light on inside the cabin when we were driving down here. And now he's standing under that streetlight like he's afraid to move too far from it."

"Exactly. Wanna ask him what his problem is?"

"Not really, as long as he's giving us a ride."

Jin ignored the comment and walked outside towards the cowboy standing in the light. Curious, the others followed him.

He supposed Amanda was probably well-grounded in her opinion. The guy was very tall and had a lean, slender body. Like Jin, he was quite muscular, but without being bulky. His face was covered with light beard stubble and he had intelligent hazel eyes that took in everything almost analytically. He had short, brown hair and a rich, masculine voice that made his Texan accent seem gentle and refined. He had taken off his cowboy hat and was fanning himself with it now.

"Hey, Mr. Delgado," Jin called.

"Call me Jim... uh, say, what's your name, kid?"

Jin paused, then, thinking it could do no harm, replied honestly. "Jin Takamura."

"Ah, Takamura," he nodded. "Means 'High Village' in Japanese doesn't it?"

Jin raised an eyebrow. "Yes, actually, it does."

"I always knew Spanish from my daddy's side of the family," he explained, "so when I went to college, I reckoned I'd learn another language I could use. Haven't used the ol' Japanese vocab in a while, though-"

"What's with the light?" Jin asked, cutting the chit-chat.

"Pardon?"

"The light," Jin went on. "You leave the light in your truck on when you drive, you parked next to one of these light-posts, and you won't move too far from it now."

Delgado looked away. The other Digidestined realized that Jin had struck a nerve and tensely waited the answer.

"Well, that is, uh…" Delgado stammered. "Well, I'm scotophobic."

"I thought you were American," Mimi said.

"He means he's afraid of the dark, Mimi," Amanda explained. "The poor thing."

Delgado laughed nervously. "Oh, it's not so bad, I just have to keep in the light and I'm fine."

"That's too bad," a new voice yelled, "because it's lights out for you, humans!"

The group turned and saw a menacing creature standing on the parking lot.

"Hey," Amanda said, working with her analyzer, "that's a—"

"A Vilemon!" Mimi cried, recognizing it.

"What the heck is that ugly thing?" Delgado asked.

"I am a digimon," Vilemon explained calmly. "And I am here to destroy these children."

"Scarmon!" Jin called.

_"Nightmare Shock!"_ the Vilemon attacked, sending a dark beam at the group. They all leapt free of the blast, but the explosion it caused sent bits of concrete raining down on them.

"Come on, kids!" Delgado urged them, running for the safety of the rest area. It was then that he saw the four Rookie digimon running from it to aid their partners. "Look out, here's more of 'em!" he yelled in warning and dove out of their way.

"Are you guys ready?" Jin asked, as they ran by.

"Are you kidding?" Scarmon replied incredulously. "You got to have a bar fight, but I haven't had a decent battle in a long time!"

"Careful, you guys, he's at the Champion level!" Penguinmon warned.

"You should listen to your friend," Vilemon told the rest of them.

"You should have stayed home today, ugly," Scarmon chuckled. _"Plasma Fire!"_

The small, green plasmatic flame he spat struck the Vilemon dead on and he frantically tried to beat out the fire that singed his fur.

Betamon was next to attack, jumping into an offensive stance, then turning to his side and using his powerful legs to propel him through the air in a lightning-quick leap. _"Beta Slugger!"_ he hollered, body-checking the larger digimon, stunning him.

_"Poison Ivy!"_ Palmon shouted, grabbing hold of the small enemy and pulling him through the air towards him. "Penguinmon!" she called.

"No problem," he said. _"Super Slap!"_ he attacked, reeling back and smacking the enemy with his stubby, but muscular flipper. Just like a volleyball set up by Palmon, Penguinmon spiked Vilemon into the ground where he skidded several dozen feet to a halt a short way off.

"I've fought Chihuahuas tougher than you!" Scarmon laughed. "If all our enemies are as weak as you, we might as well start wearing blindfolds to make it more interesting."

The haggard Vilemon stood up and brushed himself off. "Our master has commanded us to wipe you out," he said. "And my friends and I will not fail him." He let out a long, guttural howl and from the darkened fields surrounding the rest stop, a horde of several more Vilemon flew into the air and landed before them.

"They aren't kidding," Amanda breathed.

"Palmon, you all need to digivolve!" Mimi called to her partner.

"You heard the lady!" Palmon said to the other digimon. _"Palmon digivolve to… Togemon!"_

_"Betamon digivolve to… Seadramon!"_

_"Penguinmon digivolve to… Frigimon!"_

_"Scarmon digivolve to… Venomon!"_

The Vilemon took in the sight before them. The four Rookies had vanished and in their place were four very large, very imposing Champions.

Togemon, a humanoid cactus with boxing gloves and piercingly sharp needles.

Seadramon, a powerful serpentine amphibious digimon with a large, flexible body.

Frigimon, a sturdy snow-creature with the ability to freeze any one of them solid.

And Venomon, a huge, bipedal, black reptile with massive jaws lined with sharp teeth as well as a poisonous stinger on the tip of his long, curving tail and sharp claws on both his powerful hind legs and his smaller forearms.

This wasn't going to be as easy as their master had said.

"All right!" Amanda cheered. "Digivolution and a fight! Finally, after six chapters!"

"Attack!" the leader of the Vilemon ordered. The group flew at their adversaries, who charged back in kind.

_"Nightmare Shock!"_ Venomon's opponent shrieked. He was large, just a little bit shorter than a Graymon, but he was quite agile and dodged the blast easily.

_"Venom Sting!"_ he attacked, whipping around and sticking his opponent with the small point at the tip of his tail. Having caught hold of him, piercing his flesh with the stinger, he flung the struggling Vilemon at the rest stop, slamming him against the wall. _"Venom Spit!"_ The dazed Vilemon opened his eyes to see a huge, green glob of venom heading his way. He gave a short cry of pain as the caustic poison splattered him, then disintegrated, deleted.

Togemon was dealing with her own Vilemon, who used his wings to keep out of the way of the slow, lumbering cactus that tried repeatedly to land a punch.

"Too slow," Vilemon taunted with a wicked grin.

"Then I'll have to quit pulling punches," she said. _"Lightning Jabbing!"_ she attacked, going into a flurry of punches. Barreling forward, Togemon's sudden barrage of fists caught the Vilemon off guard. He wobbled uneasily on his feet when it was finished. _"Needle Spray!"_ she attacked, riddling his body with needles. The Vilemon gave one last whimper and collapsed, deleting moments later.

"Okay, you may be bigger than me," another Vilemon was saying to Seadramon. "And you may be more powerful than I am. But that doesn't matter. You know why? Because I have brains!"

Seadramon blinked numbly a few times. "Whatever. _Ice Blast!"_

The freezing cold beam hit its target dead on, freezing the surprised Vilemon in his tracks.

_"Subzero Ice Punch!"_ Seadramon heard Frigimon say nearby. He looked and saw that Frigimon had frozen his opponent as well.

"How about finishing these two off together?" Seadramon asked him.

"Good idea," Frigimon agreed, lifting the Vilemon over his head. "Coming your way!" he hollered, tossing the frozen Vilemon in the air. Seadramon responded by swatting his frozen enemy into the air with his tail. The two helpless Vilemon collided with each other and shattered into tiny fragments, each piece disintegrating separately.

"Well, so much for those guys!" Togemon said, dusting off her gloves.

Frigimon nodded. "That just leaves—"

"—that first one," Seadramon finished, casting his eye towards the first Vilemon, who was standing in shaky silence. The three champions approached him.

"You think you've won?" he asked bitterly, backing away carefully. "This isn't over. You hear me? This isn't over! Our master will-" He froze when he backed into something. He looked up and saw that Venomon was standing behind him, that he had backed into his leg.

"Well, maybe it isn't over for us," Venomon conceded, offering a huge, toothy grin. "But it is for you." Without another word, he snatched the shrieking Vilemon up in his jaws and swallowed him.

"Oh, that's disgusting!" Amanda cried. "Jin, does your digimon have to be so gross when he's defeating his enemies?"

A newly de-digivolved Scarmon trotted over. "Hey, what do you care as long as we're saving your ungrateful skin?" he retorted. "Uh, Jin, do I have something in my teeth?"

"That was amazing!" Delgado exclaimed, walking over to them. "I thought I was seeing things, but those critters are real!"

"Critters?" Scarmon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I guess there's no point in hiding them anymore," Mimi said, shrugging. "These are our digimon. Palmon, Betamon, Scarmon, and Penguinmon."

"So, these are those things they've been talking about on the news," Delgado said thoughtfully. "The ones that have been popping up all over Japan and around last Christmas, right?"

The Digidestined nodded.

"Well, you've got to tell me about this," he said.

"We will," Jin spoke up, "_if_ you're still driving us to Mexico."

"After you saved my life, I'll drive you to Bermuda if you want!" he agreed.

"Then we better get going," Michael told him. "The sooner we get back on our way, the better."

**To be continued…**

_(Next time: The gang finally gets to Mexico, but not without a few more adventures with Delgado. Not only that, but the final member of the group is finally revealed!)_

_(P.S. Digivolution! A bar fight! Bathtime ecchiness! That deserves a **review**, doesn't it?)_


	7. Ancient Enemy & New Friend

**Chapter Seven:**

**Ancient Enemy & New Friend**

Michael wore an easy smile and closed his eyes while the wind rushed over him as he relaxed in the bed of Delgado's pickup truck. It sped down the highway rapidly, and he had little doubt that they would be able to get to Mexico soon. Betamon rested next to him, snuggling up to him to keep warm. The wind was relaxing, but it was a little bit chilly in the night air. He cracked open one eye and looked over at Jin. To his surprise, Jin didn't look happy at all. In fact, he looked worried as he sat there; arms crossed broodingly, Scarmon sitting like a sentry in his lap.

"What's the matter, Jin?" he asked, speaking up over the wind.

"Something's not right."

"If you're worried about making it across the border—"

"I'm not worried about that at all," Jin says. "If something goes wrong, we'll just have our digimon digivolve and break through the fence."

Michael shook his head. "You aren't very subtle are you, Jin?"

"What? I didn't hear-"

"Never mind," he said, dismissing the thought. "Well, then what are you worried about?"

Jin didn't reply verbally, but looked through the back window at Delgado, who was driving the truck (the cabin light on), then back to Michael.

"Jim?" he asked.

Jin nodded.

"Oh, come on!" he laughed. "He's a nice guy. And what's to be afraid of? He's an easy-going cowboy who's afraid of the dark! Besides, he's our best chance of getting across the border!"

"I know, but…" Jin struggled for what he was trying to say, but couldn't seem to find the right words. "I don't trust him. There's something about him that I don't like."

"You're a paranoid nut with trust issues. I don't have a problem trusting people."

Jin raised an eyebrow. "Oh no, of course not. Well, I won't lower myself by responding to that," Jin told him. "Scarmon, will you do the honors?"

"Right!" Scarmon said, hopping off Jin's lap and chomping Michael's leg.

"What's going on back there?" Mimi asked, looking out the back window.

"Sounds like the boys are doing some male bonding," Amanda snickered.

"So, 'male bonding' is when human boys try to knock each other out?" Penguinmon asked.

"That explains why Matt and Tai are such good friends now," Palmon remarked thoughtfully.

Delgado chuckled. "You kids are pretty funny," he said. "But I've gotta wonder, what are you going to Mexico for?"

"Well," Mimi began, "we're looking for a Digidestined to join us."

"And you think this kid's in Mexico?"

"Uh-huh."

"Why do y'all need to find him?"

"That's kind of complicated," Amanda said, interjecting. "You see—"

"We need him to help us save the world!" Mimi stated cheerfully.

"Mimi!" Amanda exclaimed. _Great,_ she thought. _What if he goes around telling people that more crazy digimon are trying to take over the world? We don't want to spread panic. Doesn't she ever think about anything before she says something?_

"Now, that's something," Delgado said, impressed.

"But it's not serious!" Amanda added, trying to soothe any fears he was developing.

"As long as we win," Mimi went on.

"—Which we will."

"—If we find our friend in Mexico."

"—And that won't be too hard."

"—We hope."

"—So there's nothing to worry about."

"—Except the end of the world."

"—Which we will stop because everything is _under control!"_ Amanda shrieked, clapping her hand over Mimi's mouth before she could add anything else.

"Well, if you're sure," Delgado said with a shrug.

"Mmph!" Mimi mumbled from under Amanda's hand, struggling to speak.

"We're sure," Amanda said, holding Mimi tighter.

Just then, there was a knock at the back window. Delgado reached over and slid open the panel.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Can we stop? I think I need to bandage my leg," Michael told him, casting an angry glance back at Jin and Scarmon who both wore identical innocent smiles.

"Sure thing, there's a gas station coming up on the right."

As they made their way over to the exit, Mimi looked out the window and smiled. "Hey, the sun's coming up! Isn't it beautiful?"

Delgado saw that the sun's rays were indeed reaching over the horizon, lighting up the countryside. He relaxed at the sight and hit the overhead light, turning it off.

"Yeah, it sure is," he said.

* * *

At the gas station, the four children went inside, promising to buy enough donuts and assorted snacks to tide themselves and all of their digimon over for the rest of the trip.

"Hey, where's Jim?" Jin asked the others.

"I think he's filling up the truck," Amanda told him.

Jin thought carefully for a moment, then a sly grin crept across his face.

"Why do I feel nauseous whenever I see you smile like that?" Michael asked. "What are you thinking of now?"

"Oh, nothing important," Jin chuckled. Not saying another word to his friends he went to the gas station attendant and asked for the key to the bathroom. He left quickly and returned less than a minute later.

"Jeez, Jin, you couldn't have even washed your hands as fast as you went," Michael remarked disgustedly.

"You should see their bathroom," he said. "It's filthy and they've only got one. You want to use the fields around back?"

Michael considered how bad a gas station bathroom would have to be for Jin to think it was disgusting. After all, the bathrooms at the juvenile hall couldn't have been great.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Michael agreed.

"Great," Amanda grumbled to Mimi, taking the key from Jin. "They get to use the bushes, we get to stick to the scummy gas station restroom. Sometimes I wish _I_ had a willy. Right, Mimi?"

"Not me," Mimi said nonchalantly, "I like to do my thinking with just _one_ brain, thanks."

"Ohhhh!" Amanda laughed, high-fiving a very proud-looking Mimi. "Good one!"

Jin rolled his eyes. "Okay, well, enjoy the bathroom, ladies. For now, nature calls."

Jin walked over to where Delgado stood. "Delgado, Michael and I are going to 'use the bushes' out back," he informed him. "You haven't gone since we left the bar and that was nearly six hours ago. I'll bet you really have to go."

Delgado looked taken by surprise. "I hadn't noticed, but, yeah, now that you mention it, I do have to go," he agreed.

"Great, then let's go," Jin said. "Unless you need your privacy. Then there's the bathroom. You can go after the girls."

Delgado blinked. "Yeah!" he said, after a beat. "Yeah, the bathroom would probably be best. After all, I'm the adult. Don't need nobody sayin' I'm immature, waterin' the weeds like that."

"All right," Jin agreed. "We'll meet you back here."

Michael walked alongside Jin as the two headed for the tall overgrowth behind the station. "What was that all about?" he whispered.

"Come on, don't you think he was acting a little weird?"

"I think you focusing on who's going to the bathroom and where is a little weird."

Jin chuckled. "I'll explain it to you in a little bit. Trust me on this."

Michael looked back to Delgado, who was walking over to the bathroom. He was not too fond of trusting Jin and he had no idea what fault anyone could find with Delgado. Especially after he had helped them in that fight, Michael was much more inclined to trust the man.

* * *

Amanda looked up from a book she was reading as she leaned against the side of the truck and saw Jin and Michael walking towards her.

"Well, welcome back, Y-chromes!" she said. "Still gloating in your masculinity?"

"Michael tried to," Jin replied, "but then he remembered that he doesn't have any masculin—_itai!"_ he exclaimed as Michael elbowed him roughly.

"You're so mean, Jin," she chuckled.

"Whatever, Little Miss Penis Envy."

"Why you-"

"So, did Delgado go?" he asked.

"Go? Go where?"

"To the bathroom," he explained.

"Huh? Why do you want to know?"

Michael gave Jin an "I told you so" look, but Jin ignored him.

"Just answer the question!" he pressed.

"Yeah, sure, it was all there was to use. He said something about not being like you immature 'kids,'" here she stuck out her tongue at the two boys who rolled their eyes in unison. "It wasn't pretty in there either. Fortunately, you didn't have to look at it all the time, since the stupid light bulb kept flickering on and off."

Suddenly, a proverbial light bulb went on inside Michael's head. He looked over to Jin, who had a fierce, triumphant grin. "So, the light kept going off?" he asked, making sure.

"Yeah, I had to wash my hands in the dark—" Now Amanda froze.

"And Delgado didn't say anything about it," Jin said. "There aren't any windows in that bathroom and it's totally black most of the time and the cowboy who's afraid of the dark didn't say a word about it. He could have used the bushes, but he didn't."

"But... what does that mean?" Michael asked.

"I don't know," Jin admitted. "But it does mean one thing. He lied about being afraid of the dark."

Michael shook his head. "No. No, I won't believe that," he declared adamantly.

"Michael..." Amanda began.

"No! There's got to be a better explanation. Maybe he's embarrassed and he just struggled through it. I mean, why would any adult lie about being afraid of the dark if they really weren't?"

Amanda thought that one over. "Well, maybe you're right after all, Michael," she agreed. "I'm sorry Jin, but I don't think this proves anything."

"I'm saying we shouldn't trust him totally," Jin said. "Look, let's just let him take us across the border and then we'll go the rest of the way on our own."

The other two considered this, then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think that's probably a good idea," Amanda said. "We've already involved him enough anyway. He almost got killed by Vilemon last night!"

"Okay, that's actually good reasoning. We'll let him go on his way once we get across the border," Michael agreed.

Jin breathed a sigh of relief. He looked out the corner of his eye and saw Mimi and Delgado laughing about some joke he'd told as they walked out of the station. He was glad that the others had agreed. That would mean that Mimi would go along with the plan. Besides, Mimi always tried to trust everyone. It was one of her most endearing traits, but one of her biggest shortcomings as well. All he knew was that he didn't quite like Delgado. Something about him was just _off_, and he had plenty of experience with trusting his intuition. Was he some minion of the Ancient Enemy or was he just a man with some strange secrets? Or maybe Michael was right and there really wasn't any reason to be afraid. But still, there was something about him that was untrustworthy. In any case, all he cared about for now was that when they found the new Digidestined in Mexico, Jim Delgado would be nowhere near them.

* * *

Jin and Michael were now crammed inside the cabin of the truck. Just to be on the safe side, they all decided it would be better if they rode inside the truck, since it was technically illegal for them to ride in the bed. After all, the less attention they got from the border guard, the better.

"Okay, kids, the Mexican border is right up ahead. We have to get through the gate, first, so y'all follow my lead, okay?"

They all nodded in agreement.

Delgado pulled the truck up to the booth and rolled down his window. A guard stuck his head out the window of the booth and eyed them suspiciously. "What are your plans in Mexico?" the guard asked.

"Me and my kids are taking some stuffed animals to an orphanage in Nuevo Laredo."

"Oh, you and your _kids_ are heading to Nuevo Laredo, eh?" he asked. "What's the name of the orphanage?"

While all of them wore confident, innocent smiles, each one of them secretly had a ball of dread knotting up inside them. They didn't think this would be so difficult. They had all agreed that it was the best way to get across the border and that the guard wouldn't ask any tough questions, since people went across the border every day for school trips and things like that without even needing passports. Why was the guard being so strict.

_"Nuestra Dama de Esperanza Eternal,"_ Delgado replied automatically.

The guard raised an eyebrow. "Never heard of it."

"It's a small one."

"It's a fake one."

The Digidestined exchanged glances, wondering how they could get out of this. Jin was thinking hard about how tough it would be to have the digimon digivolve and fight their way through the border patrol, but Delgado seemed unfazed.

"Well, you probably just haven't heard of it."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you made that up," the guard assured him. "I've been to Nuevo Laredo many times and I've never heard of it. And, while we're at it, why do your kids look nothing like you?"

"They're adopted. That's why they want to donate their animals to the orphanage where I found them, bless their hearts. Ain't that sweet?"

"You adopted four kids and raised them by yourself, when most people trying to adopt kids are lucky to get even one."

"Oh, no, their mama's sick today," Delgado lied.

"Well, now, how do I know that you aren't really using these kids as cover, while you smuggle drugs or illegal goods inside those stuffed animals?"

"I suppose you'll just have to trust us," Delgado told him.

The guard chuckled. "Now, it'd be nice if we could trust everyone, wouldn't it? But you and I know that's not going to happen. Sir," he said, drawing out a pocket knife, "please hand over one of those animals so I can open it up and look for drugs." He flicked out the pocket knife's blade and held out a hand.

Each of the children held their digimon tighter.

"Aw, come on!" Delgado pleaded. "You don't want to do that in front of these kids."

"Look, why don't you just give me the ugly black one. I don't think the 'orphans' will like that one anyway."

Jin had to clamp his hand over Scarmon's mouth before he said anything in response.

"It's either that," the guard went on, "or you and I could... work out some kind of deal." At that, the guard flashed a wide smile.

_I should have known,_ Jin thought. _He's just harassing us so Delgado will bribe him._

Delgado returned the smile. It seemed surprisingly genuine. "Okay, but do y'all mind if we discuss this in the booth? Privately?"

"Of course I don't mind," the guard chuckled. "Let the adults talk while the kids stay in the truck."

Delgado got out of the truck and looked around. There were only a few lanes open at the moment. There weren't many people around and there was nobody pulled up behind them. He went inside and shut the door. The guard closed the shutter on the window and the four children were left in the truck.

"I say we run for it," Jin whispered.

"We can't do that!" Michael hissed back. "The armed guard in the other booths might come after us. And I'd rather not get shot at today."

"I'm just happy he's not slicing any of us open looking for drugs," Penguinmon remarked.

This short discussion was cut short however, as a loud _thump_ was heard from inside the booth. The gate before them opened up and Delgado emerged from the booth quickly, shutting the door behind him. He leaped back inside the car and started driving.

"Wait, what just happened?" Michael demanded.

"The guy wanted too much, so I just punched his lights out and opened the gate for us. Let's get going, we've wasted enough time here already."

Jin looked down at Scarmon, who looked up at him. "Did you hear something, Jin?" he whispered.

"You mean that thump?" he asked.

"No, it was… never mind." Scarmon supposed he must have imagined it, but he could have sworn that he had also heard a short, dry snap right after the thump. He'd heard that sound a few times before when Jin had taken some nasty injuries at the hands of wild digimon. It sounded like bone snapping.

He nudged Jin with his small, reptilian head.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Forget it," Scarmon dismissed, lying down to relax. _Jeez, _he thought. _Guy must be strong to have broken bones when he punched him._

* * *

Jin Takamura examined the map at the Nuevo Laredo bus station carefully. He had a sense of needing to go somewhere from here, but he wasn't sure where he needed to go. This person they were seeking was somewhere out there, probably nearby, but he couldn't figure out where. The map told him nothing. He sighed and looked out the window. Nuevo Laredo was not the tiny Mexican town he'd pictured in his mind, but a big, teeming metropolis with huge buildings and a very large population. He chastised himself for not doing some research about the place before he showed up. Finding a Digidestined here would be harder than he thought.

It was then that he spied the small hills in the distance and the unpaved road that led into them. It was only a few miles away, but it couldn't take more than a few minutes by bus or car. He felt his chest tighten and his breath came in short gasps. He had felt this feeling once before: the night that he had first had the dream, when he had first decided that they had to go to Mexico. The feeling had taken such hold of him that it had almost put him in a trance. He felt that way now and his desperation almost drove him to a panic. Looking around frantically, he spotted Michael and Amanda discussing whether they should bother finding a currency exchange or just use American dollars.

"You guys!" he called, running over to them. "Where's Mimi?"

"I think she's looking for a place to get lunch with Jim," Michael answered.

"Well, find her and tell her that we're going on without Delgado. I know where we have to go and the sooner we go the better."

* * *

Mimi was looking over a sign posted outside a small café trying to decide whether or not they should go in and order the special. Jim would probably have to do the translation, since she didn't speak Spanish.

"Jim what does 'sopa del día' mean?"

"Soup of the day," Jim said.

While Mimi was busy picking out words like "tortilla," "frijoles," and "taco," Michael and Amanda came running up to her. Both of them looked excited.

"Hi guys!" she exclaimed. "Where's Jin?"

"We need to talk to you about that," Michael told her.

"Yeah, can we talk to you in private for a minute?"

"Sure," she agreed, somewhat confused. "Jim, I'll be right back, okay?"

"Take all the time you need. I'm still trying to decide what I want," he laughed.

Mimi went over to Michael and Amanda and whispered, "What's wrong? Is Jin in trouble?" she asked concernedly.

"No, but he thinks he can find who we're looking for. He's getting a taxi to take us there, but we have to get going now."

"What? A taxi? Why can't Jim take us?"

Michael and Amanda looked at each other, unsure of what to say. "Uh, we just think that we've imposed enough," Amanda said. "We should just thank him and get going."

"But why?" she demanded. "He's our friend! We can't just leave!"

Michael sighed. He hated seeing Mimi upset and didn't really know how to answer her protests without upsetting her worse. He couldn't tell her the real reason, that they didn't totally trust him, but he could think of an equally good reason.

"Mimi, you remember those Vilemon that attacked?"

Mimi nodded.

"And you remember how you told me about when you were in the Digital World, fighting the Dark Masters and how every time you fought, it seemed like you lost a friend?"

Mimi looked to him, her eyes solemn. She nodded, understanding. "So, if we get in another fight, he might get hurt and it would be our fault. I see." She offered them a weak smile. "Okay. Let's tell him goodbye and get going."

The three of them went over to Delgado, Mimi in the lead. "Jim, I'm sorry, but we have to go now," she said.

"What, already?" he asked, confused. "Can't we have a little lunch first?"

"Mimi means we have to go on without you," Amanda explained.

Delgado looked to each of them. "Oh. I see."

"It's nothing personal," Michael explained. "But we need to do this by ourselves. We just don't want you to get to involved."

Delgado smiled at that. "You're good kids," he said. "I'll miss y'all, but I understand." He extended his hand and shook it with Michael, then with Amanda, who, despite her misgivings, still blushed when he bent down and kissed her hand like a gentleman.

Lastly, there was Mimi. He took off his hat and bowed courteously to her.

"It was nice to meet you, Jim," she said.

"Same here, Mimi," he said. "Tell Jin I said 'bye."

"I will. Do you think we'll ever see each other again?"

Delgado's grin widened. "Sure thing, Mimi," he said, putting on his hat. Then, tipping it low on his forehead, he added, "I guarantee it."

Mimi let out a small cry and took a step back.

"What, something wrong?" he asked, raising the rim slightly.

She looked at him carefully, then smiled. "No, I… I guess not," she replied. "Goodbye, Jim."

He nodded and they went their separate ways.

"What was that, Mimi?" Amanda asked. "You looked like you just saw a ghost."

"Oh, it... it was nothing," she said. But it _was_ something. When Delgado tipped that wide-brimmed cowboy hat, the noonday sun cast a shadow over the top half of his face. It was only a small sliver of darkness, but in that small shadow, she caught sight of his eyes. She thought she must have imagined it, or it was just an illusion. But she was wrong. When the darkness covered his face, Jim Delgado's eyes had glowed bright red.

* * *

David Acker looked over to the aisle next to his from his own booth at the Mexican border. He thought Bob was supposed to be working the booth, but he saw that it was closed and all the cars were coming to his lane and others'. Last he heard, Bob wasn't supposed to be taking a break and he knew he had seen him working earlier. He had been talking to some guy in a pickup truck with three or four kids, all of them holding up these stuffed animals. It was weird, but paid it no mind, as he had work to do himself. Now, however, he was curious as to what was going on.

"Hey, Nathan, you think you can cover my lane for a minute?" he called his coworker on his walkie-talkie.

"I'm on lunch break," came the static filled reply.

"I'll make it up to you, just gimme a hand, all right?" he told him irritably.

Nathan agreed and took over the booth while David went over to Bob's booth. He was surprised to find the door shut and the shutter of the window down, but when he turned the knob, he found it unlocked. "Bob?" he called, opening the door carefully. "Hey, buddy, are you in here?"

David opened it all the way and saw nothing until he looked down at the floor.

Nathan, working back at the other booth, heard David's scream and bolted from his own booth in the middle of a customs check, drawing his revolver as he ran. He found David leaning against Bob's booth, his face white and his eyes terrified. He looked as if he was going into shock.

"Whoa, Dave, what's going on?" he asked. "What happened?"

David raised a shaky hand and gestured towards the open door of the booth. Stepping carefully, pistol ready, he eased over to the door before quickly jumping before it. When he saw what lay before him, he gave a shout of terror as well.

Bob was in his booth all right. His familiar face looked up at Nathan in frozen surprise, his features twisted. Almost as twisted, Nathan remarked mentally, as his crumpled, twisted body…

* * *

"No pesos? Ten American dollars," the taxi driver said. Jin didn't bother to think about if it was the right fare or not, but merely paid the man and joined his friends as they hauled their luggage towards the small village ahead of them. Their digimon peeked out through zippers many of them complaining about being forced to hide in duffel bags and backpacks again.

"What's the name of this place?" Michael asked, looking over the area.

"It's not even a real town, but everyone calls it Rosa Blanca," Jin replied.

"What's it mean?" Amanda asked.

"White Rose," Jin said. "They say that white roses used to grow here after Spanish missionaries planted them here. Now, the land is so bad that they can't grow much more than weeds and cacti here. A lot of the people here scrounge for work in town or get hired on to farms in the region."

"How do you know all that?" Michael asked.

Jin smiled. "I asked some people at the taxi garage," he replied.

"They spoke English?"

"No," Jin said, _"pero yo hablo español bastante bien, rubio tonto."_

"Jin!" Mimi exclaimed. "I didn't know you spoke Spanish."

"I only speak a little bit," he said. "There were a lot of Hispanic guys in the juvenile hall and since I needed a way to pass the time, I studied Spanish so I could talk to them. They gave me a lot of credit for that. Unlike some others I could name."

Michael crossed his arms sulkily.

"Thinking about what you said in the diner about me not speaking Spanish?" Jin taunted.

"Hey, knock it off, you two!" Amanda ordered. "Let's just take a look around and see if anyone here is a Digidestined."

The four of them walked into the tiny village and looked around at the houses. Actually, a lot of them weren't exactly "houses." They were shacks built out of scrap metal and discarded plywood. They all appeared to be homemade, with crude nails sticking out in certain areas and doorways blocked not with doors, but with curtains or blankets hung from clotheslines. Most either had no windows or had windows without glass panes. Laundry was hung on lines outside the small shacks and none of them had any address or identification of who might live there. A single dirt road, unpaved and worn by people walking upon the bare earth, went through the village, which seemed to have around fifty of the small shacks.

Jin regarded the area with interest, apparently looking for someone to talk to, but Michael and the others were stunned by what they saw. Mimi and Michael in particular had never seen a place so impoverished. The sheer poverty of the area made Michael think of the images he'd seen on TV of Africa or the Middle East. He'd had no idea that a place like this was so close to the United States or even just outside a modern city like Nuevo Laredo.

"Señor," a small voice said to him. He turned and saw a little girl with a tiny doll hand-carved from wood and painted brown in her hands. "You like this?" she asked, holding it up.

Michael smiled. "Yes, it's nice."

"Nice!" she agreed. "Two dollars!"

"Huh?"

"Two dollars and it is yours!"

Michael shrugged. "Okay, why not?" he agreed, handing the money to the girl and taking the doll.

"Muchas gracias!" she cried, and ran back to one of the shacks, calling "Mamá! Mamá!"

"That was nice of you," Mimi said.

"Yeah, but where's my receipt?" he asked.

"Idiot," Jin mumbled.

"Oh relax, I was kidding."

Just then, something caught his eye. A little boy was running across the main path of the village and something small was chasing him, bouncing after him as it tried to keep up.

"What is that?" Michael asked.

Amanda had her analyzer out in seconds. "I can't believe it," she said. "If this is right, that's a Koromon!"

Mimi nodded. She recognized the small, pink, brown-eyed creature anywhere. Jin was right. This place had digimon.

_"Oye!"_ Jin called to the small child. _"Un momento, por favor!"_

The child stopped and looked at the strangers. He didn't seem afraid and smiled at all of them, but the Koromon shrank from them and hid behind the boy's leg.

_"Eso es un…"_ Jin tried to think of the right word for digimon in Spanish, _"monstruo digital, no?"_

_"Sí, es un digimon,"_ the boy replied.

Jin rolled his eyes. Apparently the term was the same everywhere. _"Bueno. Tienes un digivice?"_ he asked, holding up his own as an example.

_"Ah!"_ the boy said. _"Todos de ustedes son Digidestinados!"_ he exclaimed.

"Did he just say we're all Digidestined?" Michael asked.

"Great," Scarmon said, clawing his way out of the luggage. "Since they know about us, I'm getting some fresh air."

"Scarmon!" Jin yelled.

"Oh come on, if they can handle a Koromon, they can handle little ol' me."

"I agree," Penguimon said, coming out of Amanda's backpack, Palmon and Betamon following suit.

Jin shrugged, deciding that Scarmon was probably right. If they let a boy and a Koromon play in the open, they probably wouldn't mind their digimon either.

_"Y tú?"_ he asked. _"Eres Digidestinado?"_

_"Por qué?"_ he asked, wanting to know why.

_"Necesitamos encontrar otro Digidestinado,"_ Jin replied.

_"Ah, quieren mi hermano,"_ the boy said.

"Jin, what's going on?" Mimi asked.

"He says if we need to find another Digidestined, then we want his brother," Jin informed them.

_"Ángel!"_ the boy called, pronouncing it "AHN-hel."

From one of the nearby makeshift homes, an older boy emerged. He looked to be about Amanda's age, maybe a little older. He had short, black hair and intelligent dark brown eyes. He was wearing a white, dirty t-shirt and a ragged pair of blue jeans. On his feet were work boots, scuffed and worn and caked with dried mud. He also wore brown work gloves, the unpolished leather of them frayed about the fingers and palms. He was about Michael's height and had a trim, muscular build, only slightly less than Jin. He had a warm smile on his face as he looked to his younger brother.

_"Mon Dieu,"_ Amanda breathed, her eyes lighting up.

Jin rolled his eyes. "One foreign language at a time, nerd."

_"Qué quieres, Miguelito?"_ he asked.

The boy, Miguelito, pointed at the four strangers. Ángel saw them and assumed a look first of surprise, then one of elation. Jin's heart skipped a beat when he noticed a digivice clipped to his jeans.

_"Finalmente!"_ he exclaimed.

The others looked to Jin. "Finally," he translated. "Come on, that was an easy one."

Ángel walked up to Jin and removed his gloves, offering his hand in greeting. The two of them shook hands once, firmly.

_"Me llamo Ángel Dominguez. Yo tengo 13 años."_

_"Buenos tardes,"_ he said. _"Me llamo Jin Takamura. Tengo 16 años y los otros son mis amigos, Mimi, Amanda, Michael, y nuestros digimon. Eres un Digidestinado?"_

_"Sí,"_ he affirmed.

Jin thought carefully about what to say next. He wasn't entirely sure how to phrase it, so he decided to wing it. _"Necesitamos tu ayuda. Luchamos con un… eeto… un enemigo muy… eeto… sinestro."_

Mimi chuckled softly. Jin wasn't totally fluent with his Spanish, so whenever he was looking for a word, he used the Japanese vocal filler, "eeto" instead of "um" or "er" in English. "What did you say?" she asked, trying not to laugh out loud.

"I told him we need his help and I said we're fighting a sinister enemy," he whispered back to them.

"Hey, ask him if he has a girlfriend," Amanda demanded loudly.

Ángel laughed at that. "No, I don't," he said in clear, unmistakable English. "And I will help you any way I can."

Jin looked relieved. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you spoke English," he apologized.

"I didn't know that you would speak Spanish," Ángel pointed out.

"You make it sound like you were expecting us," Michael remarked.

"That is because I was," Ángel replied. "I saw all of you in my dreams. From the time when I was eight years old, I knew that one day you would come and I would go and fight."

"You mean you've been expecting us for years?" Mimi cried in disbelief.

"We've only had dreams about… well, about _him_ for a few weeks," Michael told him, lowering his voice.

"It doesn't matter. You were supposed to arrive here now, and I am supposed to go with you. It is part our our destiny, after all."

Jin looked over this new person suspiciously. He wasn't very comfortable with the word "destiny," and wasn't sure why Ángel was being so casual about it.

"What about your parents?" Amanda asked.

"Mamá and Papá have known for a long time that we would leave one day and that they would not stop us."

"Us?" Jin asked.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to introduce my partner," he exclaimed, looking embarrassed. "Muchomon!" he called.

A small creature flew from the window and landed on the ground near Ángel's feet. Penguinmon gasped.

Muchomon was, like Penguinmon, a short, chubby bird with a large beak and two crest feathers that drooped back over his head. In fact, as far as their body shapes, they were exactly the same, almost mirror images. Muchomon, however, had red feathers that didn't provide insulation like Penguinmon's feathers and the stripes on his belly were yellow, not white.

"Wow, Penguinmon!" Amanda cooed, using her analyzer on him. "This says that you and him are sort of like cousin types of digimon, evolving differently because of either hot or cold environments."

Penguinmon and Muchomon were looking over each other appreciatively.

"You know, it's only now that I meet someone who looks exactly like me," Penguinmon said, "that I realize how drop-dead _handsome_ I am!"

Muchomon scratched his head with one feathered hand. "I do not see what you mean. We don't look alike."

"What do you mean?" Penguinmon exclaimed.

"Our feathers have a different texture," he explained.

"What difference does that make?"

Muchomon smiled and, with a few flaps of his wings, flew into the air and hovered there. "Can you do this?" he asked.

Penguinmon crossed his flippers and looked at the ground. "Too bad," he told Amanda, "I guess his good looks went to his head."

"Would you all wait here?" Ángel asked them. "I have to talk to my parents. I have a few things I need to pack as well."

* * *

Jin felt a little self-conscious. Ángel Dominguez had talked to his parents and they'd all introduced themselves and they were now sitting with all their luggage at the center of the village. The entire community was now abuzz with activity and men, women, and children milled about them, all curious. It turned out that several other In-Training digimon lived here as well, but Ángel and Muchomon were the only Digidestined pair in the village. In any case, Jin was having a hard time understanding them all, as they all spoke together and went too fast for him to pick anything up. He talked to a few people and discovered that Ángel and Muchomon had only been to the Digital World this last year and that was the only time since Muchomon's digi-egg first appeared at the foot of Ángel's bed four years ago. Not only that, but Ángel had learned English solely because he believed that he would team up with travelers from the U.S. Jin couldn't fathom how he could have guessed such a thing, but he'd obviously been right. In any case, he was apparently the pride and joy of the village, as he was supposed to be their top student and regarded as a hero, just by being a Digidestined. The commotion was unnerving.

Finally, Ángel and his parents appeared from their tiny home and the whole village cheered. Ángel smiled and waved to them all. Jin looked and saw tears in his mother's eyes. She was a middle-aged woman and she held her son firmly, as if she didn't want to let him go. He found himself thinking of his own mother and felt a lump at the back of his throat at the sight and swallowed, taking deep breaths until the feeling passed.

Ángel came over to them, Muchomon at his side and a small bag at his side. Jin saw several of the villagers praying loudly and he looked to Ángel for an explanation.

"Ah, well," he said, looking embarassed, "it is a long story. But, if you think about it, we are on a holy mission."

"That's- well, whatever, I guess we've got a job to do."

Ángel nodded. "You're right. Are you all ready to go?" he asked.

"Go where?" Mimi asked. "We're not even sure where we should go."

"I know where we will go," he said. "The digiport of our village's only computer will lead us right to the center of the dark energy that envelopes the Digital World. That is where we will defeat the soldiers of the Ancient Enemy."

"Wait a minute," Amanda said. "How do you know that?"

Ángel shrugged. "We have all had dreams about that red-eyed monster. Even though we have no proof, it is clear that it is real. I... have some experience with understanding things that are difficult to explain, and I am positive that the digiport here will send us where we need to go. I know you just met me, but please trust me."

Jin wasn't sure about destinies or holy missions, but he had to smile at Ángel's confidence. He felt a kind of camaraderie with him, since he was so direct and unpretentious. Mimi looked convinced, Michael seemed less confident, but willing, whereas Amanda seemed perturbed by it.

"I'd really like some evidence that proves it," she said, "but I guess if we're wrong we can just backtrack or figure out where we are supposed to go. Besides it's probably better to do something instead of nothing."

Jin nodded and looked back to Ángel. "Well, I had a dream that told me to find a Digidestined in Mexico, and here you are, expecting us. I guess I can't argue with the logic, so... yeah, let's go with our gut!"

They turned to go and follow Ángel when Jin felt a tap on his shoulder. To his surprise, it was Ángel's mother.

"Just a moment, please. You are the oldest of these children, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"Then you are responsible for them," she declared. "You must be sure that no harm comes to them. Do you understand?"

Jin nodded slowly. "Yes. I'll try."

"Don't just try!" she pleaded, her eyes desperate. "You must do your very best to make sure that no harm will come to them. Do everything you can to keep my baby safe."

Jin was embarrassed. He'd never really had anyone put their trust in him to be responsible like this. Still, it wasn't something he could just deny. Again, his thoughts went to his own mother and he knew that it was a promise he would have to make.

"Okay, Señora Dominguez," he said. "I promise I'll do everything I can."

"On your life?" she asked.

"On my life," he swore.

She seemed satisfied with that, and went over to her husband to watch them all go.

"Come on, Jin," Ángel called. "We have to leave."

Jin nodded and followed him. He led them to one of the shacks and showed them what was inside.

It was a computer, its digiport open, their destination displayed on the screen.

"This is where our journey begins," Ángel told them.

**To be continued…**

**END NORTH AMERICAN STORY ARC**

_(Next time: Our heroes are finally gathered and ready to go to the Digital World, but the Ancient Enemy also puts his own plan into motion. And how will the group adjust to their mysterious new member?) _

_(P.S. The end of a story arc! Did you enjoy it? Why not tell me with a friendly **review**? Comments, compliments, criticism... they're all fair game!)_


	8. Interlude: Camp Delgado

**Interlude:**

**Camp Delgado**

Vademon shivered as his tentacles slid across the cold metal street. Normally, organic digimon like himself wouldn't set foot in a place like this. After all, there wasn't much to eat, no plant life, nor anything else that would support an organic creature. Cybernetic digimon, however, thrived in this area. They could ignore the cold, steely walls and floors, not minding that their city was encased in a giant crystalline dome. It was very easy to see why this place got its name. All things in Full Metal City*, from the buildings, to the streets, to the very citizens of the place were metallic in nature.

He had arrived a few days ago, finding that the city had already been taken over by the Dark One's minions, called from every corner of the Digital World by the hundreds. They were hunting down the former residents and imprisoning them or destroying them, re-purposing older buildings and dealing with the resistance as they disabled security systems. They all had instructions and most of them were expecting Vademon. He was charged with several major tasks and one of them, much to his chagrin, was making sure that each of the new soldiers under his command was hard at work doing their job. Surrounded by the sheer, cold walls of towering steel buildings, he felt at home with all the technology at his disposal, but he still wished he was back at his own climate-controlled quarters.

Looking around irritably, he spied a few of the city's new "immigrants" milling about in the street. "You three!" he called. "What are you doing?"

He had come upon a trio of Golemon, all of whom appeared to be engaged in conversation but not in work. The large, bulky digimon turned to face him. He swallowed when he saw their stern, angry faces, but stood his ground.

"Yeah, what do you want?" one of the Golemon asked.

"What assignment are you working on?" he demanded.

"We aren't working on any assignment."

"You weren't assigned anything?"

"Yeah," he chuckled, "but we're not doing it."

"I can see that," Vademon growled.

"And we aren't going to do it for a while," he continued, eliciting guffaws from his two friends.

"You'll do as your told!" Vademon commanded.

"Get lost!" the Golemon barked, taking a step forward.

"You'll obey me, since the master left me in charge of affairs while he's not here."

"See, that's one of the things me and my boys were talking about," the Golemon said. "We figure that the Boss wouldn't leave a geeky little runt like you in charge."

"How dare you!" Vademon shouted, pulling his blaster from his holster.

All three Golemon laughed at that. "Oh, so you're going to zap us with your toy gun?" their leader laughed, advancing slowly. "Go ahead. Shoot one of us and see what happens."

"Get back!" Vademon ordered, his voice cracking with fear. "I—I—I know how to use this! The master will hear of this!"

"Even if he left you in charge, that was his mistake." The Golemon sneered and lunged at Vademon, seizing him in one gigantic fist.

"That was _whose_ mistake?" someone asked.

All of them looked in the direction of the voice. All of them gawked and felt their knees go weak as they saw who stood there.

Wearing his cowboy hat, his denim shirt and jeans and cowboy boots, he could have passed as a human any day. He had fooled every one of them when he had first come around, recruiting them and promising them power, but everyone knew that he was no human. On Earth, he had gone by the name of Jim Delgado. But to those who knew who he really was: he was the Dark One, the Ancient Enemy, or, for the time being—

"Master!" Vademon exclaimed.

The Golemon dropped him and backed up slowly as he quaked in fear. He was focused on the Dark One's eyes, which glowed red in the shadow of the hat's brim.

"Now, now, Vademon," Delgado chided him. "I asked a question. Let them answer it before you say anything."

"Master, I—I'm sorry!" the Golemon stammered as he knelt on the ground.

"That's twice you didn't answer my question," Delgado said. His voice was calm, even good-humored, but it now took on a tone that filled each of them with a sickening dread. "I asked, _whose _mistake was appointing Vademon second-in-command?"

"I'm sorry, master, I didn't—"

Delgado grinned and began rolling up his sleeves.

The Golemon swallowed and dropped to his knees, kneeling before him. "I said… that I thought it was your mistake, master… but I wasn't thinking. I was a fool! I won't question you again!"

Delgado walked over to the kneeling Golemon. "Rise," he ordered. The Golemon did as he was told. Delgado then extended his hand in friendly gesture. The Golemon looked at his master's hand for a moment before going to shake it.

A handshake was apparently not what Delgado had in mind, however. In one quick motion, he seized the Golemon's outstretched hand, his fingers digging into and breaking the joints of it in a monstrous grip. The Golemon let out a small whimper, but managed to keep mostly silent, despite the immense pain.

"Let's... have a little talk in the alley," Delgado said, dragging the Golemon towards a nearby alley just of the street.

"NO!" the Golemon cried, struggling to get away as he was dragged helplessly by Delgado. "Please, have mercy! I will never disobey you! I will do everything you say!"

Delgado laughed merrily. "Oh, then in that case, struggle harder, it makes this more fun!"

The Golemon shouted a few more times in terror as his two friends looked on. Delgado pulled him around the corner and into the alley. One of his friends moved to pursue them, but the other held him fast. "Don't," he whispered. "Perhaps the master will be merciful."

The Golemon gave one last holler as an explosion of data blasted from the alley and then vanished into thin air.

Delgado walked alone from the alley, dusting his hands off.

"Let that be a lesson, Vademon," Delgado told him. "It's the best way to make sure your subordinate never questions your authority twice."

One of the fallen Golemon's friends roared in anger. "You monster! I'll make you pay!" he bellowed, charging at Delgado, fist raised. He punched forward with all his might, but found his fist caught in mid air by Delgado, who wore a bored expression.

"I guess you don't learn by example, do you?" he asked. Before the Golemon could give an answer, Delgado brought his own fist back. The blow smashed through the Golemon's torso and burst through his back out the other side, impaling him on his arm. The Golemon's face was frozen in shock for a few seconds, then went limp as he slid off his former master's arm and onto the ground where he, too, shattered into data.

Delgado then cast his eye at the remaining Golemon. "Do _you_ have a problem?" he asked.

"No, master!" the Golemon replied.

"Well, that's a shame," he said, "because all this disobedience has left me with some extra energy to work off. And I'd hate to see you die for nothing, but..."

The Golemon only managed a single step backwards before Delgado rushed him. Vademon felt ill, wanted to turn away, but was compelled to watch. The Dark One moved so fast his motions were a blur. All Vademon could see was that one moment the Golemon was there, then the Dark One reached him, and then the Golemon was no more. The Dark One's hapless victim exploded into hundreds of splintered pieces that rained down on the cold, metal street before shattering into data individually.

"Those three weren't even enough for a warm-up," Delgado declared with a yawn. He then looked over at Vademon.

"D-don't kill me!" Vademon begged holding his arms up defensively.

"Oh, don't be silly," Delgado laughed. "I wouldn't kill you while you're still of use to me. And you can keep being useful," here his tone changed, slowly becoming colder, "by not being a sniveling, pathetic coward," and then his voice turned cheery again, "and telling me how the plan is going so far. Everything good?"

Vademon swallowed and told him all that had been going on. As the Dark One had commanded, Full Metal City was theirs, with only a few measly resistance fighters still unaccounted for.

"I noticed that you've set up some extra lighting, like I asked," Delgado said.

"Yes, master. I made sure to get it set up as soon as possible."

Vademon hadn't been sure why it was so important at first, but it became apparent now as he stared into the hardened, cruel face of his master. Whenever the light was on him, he looked normal. But in any kind of darkness, his body seemed as if it were a living shadow, overflowing with some dark energy which he wore like a suit, most certainly to conceal a more horrific form. Even in the slightest of shadows, one could see those eyes, those red eyes of his, staring out like a demon's. He was glad he had made the troops set up extra streetlights, overhead spotlights, and anything else that kept every corner of the city bright, for the less he had to confront his master's monstrous nature, the better.

"Anything else?" Delgado asked. "Anyone give you any trouble?"

"There was one who gave us extra trouble when he tried to defend the city. He defeated many of our troops, but we finally managed to beat him, master," he said. "He's in our prison as we speak. He seemed important, so we left him alive in case you wished to speak with him."

"No kidding? Well... let's not keep him waiting."

* * *

Andromon lifted his head up as he heard the door open. Thick iron cuffs restrained him to the wall, his arms and legs bound fast in the darkened room. He wondered who it was. Ever since all these strange digimon came and started taking over the city, he'd wondered who was behind it. There was Vademon, but he acted like someone's assistant and he wondered who would have ordered the conquest of Full Metal City.

"Well, I wondered if I'd get to meet you, Andromon," the speaker said.

Andromon focused his eyes on the stranger. "Who are you?" he asked in his stiff, robotic voice.

"Oh, just a simple cowboy on vacation," he chuckled.

Andromon blinked a few times. "A human?" he asked. Then, using his other sensors in addition to just his eyes, he saw that this was not the case. "No," he said. "You are not a human. You look like one, but you are surrounded by some strange energy I cannot identify. Your appearance is an illusion."

"Even your fancy vision can't let you see my true nature, Andromon," Delgado said with a grin. "Vademon tells me that you took out plenty of my soldiers when they tried to take the city."

"I had no choice. They were attacking us."

"Noble, aren't you? Always trying to protect the innocent. That's one reason why you're so well known today. You've helped the Digidestined before, against the Dark Masters no less. A tough guy like you shouldn't be wasting his time fighting my lackeys, protecting a bunch of dimwitted Gardromon, Tankmon, and Haguramon. Or snot-nosed children, either. You should be working for me."

"I don't know who you are, but I can tell you are up to no good." Andromon gritted his teeth, steeling himself against his own fear. "I will never help you."

"Come on, Andromon," he said, snickering to himself. "You've worked against the Digidestined twice before. I think you ought to go for three."

"I was not in control!" Andromon protested. "I was under the control of the black gears on File Island and was caught by the Digimon Emperor's dark ring last year!"

"Cheap toys that were easily done away with," Delgado remarked. "But I have a plan that will make you one of my finest soldiers."

"That will never happen."

The Dark One raised an eyebrow. "I've seen thousands of years of history, Andromon," he told him. "I've waited for just the right time to make my move. Every tiny, insignificant thing that occurs does so as a tiny step towards the future I've designed. Don't you think I know how to be patient?"

Andromon, despite his metallic exterior, found it impossible to keep the dread from his face.

"You just get comfortable, my friend. I want you to be well-rested when I recruit you as my new secret weapon."

* * *

Vademon paced back and forth outside the prison as he waited for the Dark One to return. When he did, he wore an expression of smug satisfaction. This comforted Vademon. After all, if he was happy, there was less chance of him taking his anger out on him.

"Is everything to your liking, master?" he asked.

"Everything is going perfectly," Delgado told him. "You've served me well, Vademon."

"Thank you, master," Vademon said, utterly relieved.

"Well, I won't be staying here long. I have some business on Earth and later I need to attend to the Digidestined."

"Ah, I almost forgot. What happened to them?" He was wrung his hands anxiously. "Are they all still… alive?" he asked, hoping they weren't.

"Of course," Delgado said. "I just wanted to have a little fun with them and see what I'm up against."

"Should I prepare the troops for them?"

"No, no, I have something special lined up for them."

"But I don't understand," Vademon said. "I thought we were going to destroy them."

"It's not enough to just kill them, Vademon," he said, talking to him like he was a small child. "We need to make them suffer. Their suffering makes it worthwhile. Without it, what would be the point?"

Vademon agreed, nodding as he wore a cruel grin to match that of his master. "I see... that _does_ sound like fun. Where are they now?"

"Well, you remember how I had you set up the barrier to keep out all the world's Digidestined? Those five can get through the barrier. They have powers that counteract my own. But they aren't smart enough to figure out that I'm here. They'll be handling a few soldiers of my own choosing."

"What shall we do while they're busy, master?"

"Is the Public Address system ready?"

"Yes, both the sound and video screens were set up and tested this morning."

"Then I suppose I ought to address my people and motivate them. As fun as crushing those worthless Golemon was, I'd rather have more productive minions so I can make my schedule."

"Of course. And I promise to keep them on task or heads will roll!" he said, saluting.

"Well, maybe just _one _head." He looked at Vademon purposefully.

"Th-there will be no need for that, master."

"Oh, lighten up!" Delgado said with a chuckle. "I swear, you take every death threat way too seriously."

"Y-yes, master," Vademon said. "Your instructions said there were some major projects you would present to us once the city was under our control."

"Yep, and that's where you come in, Vademon," he said. He produced, seemingly from nowhere, a stack of blueprints. "Take these and have them built. In addition, get some of the brainier digimon I've recruited and put them to work in the biology lab I've set aside. There are three objectives I want met. And to meet them, you'll need these." He reached inside his pocket and removed, to Vademon's amazement, three more dark orbs. The black spheres shined in the streetlights, emitting a dark, eerie glow as they rested in Delgado's hand. "I need you to start construction on some new facilities. We need Full Metal City's technology to build it. Using the power of the dark orbs and your talent for all things mechanical, we're going to take away the edge those kids always seem to have and strike down our enemies before they even know what has happened. And then, the human world will be destroyed and we will bend the Digital World to our will."

Vademon's eyes lit up greedily. "I'll get to work immediately," he said.

"I want to see these things finished in a week," Delgado commanded. "If those kids really _are_ worth the effort, it won't take them long to finish up where I've sent them."

"And where is that, master?" he asked.

Delgado chuckled. "On my own personal deathtrap: a large island known as the Continent of Folder."

**To be continued…**

**BEGIN CONTINENT OF FOLDER STORY ARC**

_*Author's note: Full Metal City was the name of the mechanical city in which the 2nd season Digidestined faced Andromon. The name is only mentioned in the Japanese episodes, but I also mention it in "Unintended" as well._


	9. One of the Good Ones

**Chapter Eight:**

**One of the Good Ones**

* * *

Michael opened his eyes. All around him were palm trees that swayed in the wind. The ten of them stood on the beach and enjoyed the calming ocean breeze. He and the others moved off the beach and into the forest, the smell of tropical wildflowers thick in the air. The sky was an amazing shade of orange as evening began to set in. He heard Mimi laughing with delight as she took in the beauty of the place and smiled at the sound. Jin didn't seem impressed.

"This place seems familiar," Jin remarked. "Any idea where the port brought us, Ángel?"

"Yes. It is called the Continent of Folder."

"Wow, a whole continent?" Amanda asked. "I don't remember hearing about this place in my studies of the Digital World."

"It's not much of a continent," Jin said. "It's actually just one large island. The only reason they call it a continent is because it's too far away from the mainland to classify as part of another continent."

"Have you been here before, Jin?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah, but I think it was at the other end of this island. I don't remember the beach, but the plants look familiar. I came here a few years ago when Scarmon and I were crossing the ocean."

"Why were you trying to cross the ocean?" Ángel asked. "Why not use the digiports to—"

"Drop it," Jin snapped, suddenly. Ángel seemed surprised, but he didn't press him for details.

"Well, what do we do now that we're here?" Michael asked, changing the subject.

"We fight the bad guys!" Betamon said in a burst of energy.

"Calm down," Penguinmon said. "Knowing the way Digidestined seem to find trouble, we should run into someone or something any minute now."

No sooner had he spoken than there was a whistling sound followed by a thunderous explosion as one of the trees nearby was blown to bits, the flaming pieces of wood raining to the ground.

"Ha! Called it!" Penguinmon remarked.

"What was that?" Michael demanded, considerably more shaken up than Amanda's partner.

The trees before them were knocked away and their assailant appeared.

"Oh _no…_" Mimi moaned in disgust, seeing what it was.

Standing there was what looked very much like a Numemon. The creature could have easily been mistaken for one of the green, slug-like sludge-tossing digimon, were it not for some bizarre editions. First of all, it was much larger, a good ten feet tall. Second of all, metal plates lined its body in several places and one of its eyestalks was cybernetic, with an infrared sensor where its eye would normally be. Finally, one of its flipper-like arms was replaced with a large-barreled weapon, resembling a cannon or a bazooka.

"Behold!" it shouted. "I am MetalNumemon, grenadier and a member of the illustrious Eight Gods! This island belongs to us now, and you're trespassing on our property. And the rule here," he went on, raising his cannon, "is that all trespassers will be shot!"

"So, the Eight Gods are here?" Jin asked, his face grim.

"You know about us?" MetalNumemon looked surprised, then proud. "Then you must know that I am one of their most feared members and am not to be messed with!"

"Actually, I heard that you were a lame slime ball that they kept around because you make a nice, soft punching bag," Jin sneered. "And that you're one of the weakest ultimate-level digimon on the planet."

MetalNumemon fumed. "Slime ball?" he roared. "You'll be the first one to go! _Sludge Grenades!"_

He raised his cannon and fired what looked like a large, purple glob of the dreaded sludge right where Jin stood. He and Scarmon leaped into the air, the explosion tossing them both several yards. They managed to roll with the fall and were both on their feet in seconds.

"That's all you've got?" Scarmon laughed, undaunted. "What kind of attack is explosive sludge?"

"Riiight," Amanda said, rolling her eyes and holding her fingers up in the shape of quotation marks. "'Sludge.' That's what it is."

"Could we talk less and fight more?" Penguinmon asked, annoyed at his partner's lack of seriousness.

"Fine," she sighed, her hand at her digivice. The others followed suit and, in moments, MetalNumemon was facing four champions.

"Muchomon," Ángel called. "It's finally our time! Are you ready?"

"I'm always ready," the small bird replied. _"Muchomon digivolve to… FlareLizamon!"_

The others stared at the newest edition to their team. FlareLizamon was a bipedal, reptilian creature whose whole body was shrouded in flames except for some large, metallic claws and a metal mask that covered the top half of his long face. His intelligent brown eyes peered through holes in the mask as he glanced at his teammates. "Let's make this quick."

In a group charge, all five of them rushed MetalNumemon.

"You don't know who you're messing with," their opponent laughed arrogantly. _"Sludge Grenades!"_

Much to their surprise, MetalNumemon launched a whole _volley_ of the grenades, firing rapidly and blasting each of them backwards.

"This is so humiliating," Jin grumbled, shaking his head.

"You don't know the half of it," Venomon said, gagging. The others looked at him questioningly until they inhaled and caught the same scent he did. The sludge grenades left a strange aroma in the air that could best be described as "flatulent."

Frigimon was the first one up on his feet and dodged another grenade as he lunged at MetalNumemon with a Subzero Ice Punch. MetalNumemon proved surprisingly capable in spite of his weak, comical appearance and parried his fist with one cannon-like arm, then knocked him away skillfully with his other.

Venomon, choosing a less direct means of attack, dashed into the trees. MetalNumemon stood still, listening for the sound of him crashing through the foliage. Venomon had honed hunting skills, of course, and was silent. He thought he had got the best of MetalNumemon when he leapt from the trees without warning in hopes of tackling him to the ground. He hadn't counted on the infrared camera on MetalNumemon's eye, which tracked his movements easily. MetalNumemon blasted him from the air like a clay pigeon and he landed in a smoking heap.

_"Needle Spray!"_ Togemon attacked, as MetalNumemon was busied with Venomon.

MetalNumemon was surprised, but managed to crouch and then spring his viscous body high into the air, narrowly avoiding the needles that might have pierced his soft hide. _"Hyper Bomb!"_ he shouted, body slamming Togemon with all of his weight. However, he had forgotten that, even with his metal plates, much of his body would still be vulnerable to Togemon's needles. He immediately jumped back off of her with a cry of pain as he tried to shake off the spines that penetrated his slimy exterior. Togemon slowly got to her feet, still dazed by the massive attack MetalNumemon had landed.

FlareLizamon was in position now, and raised his claws in preparation. _"Blazing Inferno!"_ he attacked, unleashing a streak of orange fire at his target. MetalNumemon saw the attack coming and knew he couldn't avoid it. However, he knew a way he could block it.

He seized Togemon, who was still dazed, and held her in front of him as a shield, letting her take the full force of the fiery attack. Being particularly susceptible to fire attacks, she let out a scream as the flames scorched her.

"FlareLizamon, be careful!" Ángel cried.

MetalNumemon let out a laugh and simply threw Togemon into FlareLizamon, temporarily incapacitating both of them.

Seadramon, making a last ditch effort, tried to simply head butt the gigantic slug, forgetting MetalNumemon's remarkable reflexes. MetalNumemon merely spun around, using his cannon arm as a club to swat him to the ground.

"I can't believe the others were worried about you," MetalNumemon laughed. "You're pathetic! You—" He stopped in mid-sentence when something caught his eye.

"Togemon!" Mimi cried desperately to her fallen partner. "Please get up! We need—_eek!"_

Mimi suddenly felt something grab her around the waist and hoist her into the air. To her horror, MetalNumemon had seized her in one slimy flipper and now held her tightly. "Wow!" he exclaimed, one eyestalk snaking close to her face for a better look.

"What's your problem?" Mimi shrieked, flinching away from the eyeball.

"No one told me you Digidestined were this pretty! How'd you like to ditch these losers and go on a date with me?"

Mimi's horror increased exponentially, as did her anger as she reeled back a fist and socked the giant Numemon right in his eye. "Put me down, you creep!" she shouted, struggling to get free. "Can't I ever meet a gross digimon that _doesn't_ want me for a girlfriend?"

"Ooh, feisty!" MetalNumemon cooed, hugging her close to his slick body like a doll. As he let out a harsh laugh, Mimi stared fearfully at his gaping mouth and smelled his foul breath, the sour stench of it almost unbearable as he exhaled upon her in hot gusts.

"Eww!" she shrieked, struggling even harder. "Can someone please get this slime ball off me before I throw up?!"

Michael, who had just succeeded in urging Seadramon to get up, heard Mimi's shrill call for help. He saw the monster holding her, saw her struggling to get free as she was treated like someone's toy. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he burned with sudden rage. "Seadramon!" he called. "Stop him!"

Seadramon again lunged towards MetalNumemon, this time having the advantage while he was distracted. _"Ice Blast!"_

"Huh?" MetalNumemon turned slightly and received all of the chilling attack, his slimy coating frozen in seconds. Unaccustomed to such an attack, he dropped Mimi and hugged himself, shivering.

"Mimi, run for it!" Michael yelled.

Mimi didn't need to be told twice. Just happy to be free, she held her nose and ran for cover.

MetalNumemon saw his quarry getting away and became enraged. He turned his wrath on Seadramon this time, leaping at him and bashing him over the head with his cannon arm again and then blasting him point blank with another sludge grenade. Seadramon let out a groan and devolved to Betamon.

"Come on back, sweetie!" he pleaded to Mimi, who was still trying to get Togemon to stand. "Once you go green, you never go back!"

"I wouldn't touch you unless I were pushing you into a salt mine, you overgrown slug!" she shouted back.

MetalNumemon growled angrily. "That's it! Now, I'm really mad!" He raised his organic flipper high over his head, then brought it down on the ground with all his might. _"Slime Wave!"_ he bellowed. Just as the attack's name implied, a gigantic wave, a virtual tsunami of green slime shot up before them, then splashed down on them all.

"Mimi!" Michael cried, not noticing that he was covered with goo as well.

Mimi stood perfectly still, her eyes wide in shock. She looked herself over. She didn't feel any pain, but her whole body was completely drenched, slick with the oozed that MetalNumemon had produced. It appeared that the attack wasn't damaging so much as it was degrading.

"Wow," MetalNumemon sighed. "She looks even cuter dripping with ooze."

"That's the last straw!" Mimi screamed. "Togemon!"

Togemon got to her feet, finding her strength in the need to help her partner. "Mimi… let's… get him!" she said with new determination. Mimi's digivice began to beep loudly and Togemon began to glow and the light eradicated the slime that covered her.

_"Togemon digivolve to… Lilymon!"_

The fairy digimon flew overhead and MetalNumemon, faced with this new enemy, shot several more grenades into the air, trying to bring her down. Her speed was too much for him, however, and he couldn't manage to hit her even once. Lilymon quickly became confident that he couldn't follow her movements and dive-bombed him, landing a solid kick to his head that sent him reeling as she returned to the air.

"You're fast," he grunted. "But you're not fast enough to get away from _this!_ _Hyper Bomb!"_

He again launched himself in the air and managed to come down onto her, taking her with him. MetalNumemon grinned as they began to fall to the ground far below.

"Ick!" Lilymon said. "You smell like a garbage dump!"

"Enjoy it. It'll be the last thing you ever smell." His grin widened. "This is really going to hurt."

"Not as much as _this_ will," Lilymon beamed, jabbing her Flower Cannon into his soft underbelly. _"Flower Cannon!"_

MetalNumemon probably felt very little, actually. In an instant, he was blasted into tiny globules of slime and bits of metal that filled the air before they disintegrated into data.

"All right!" Mimi cheered as Lilymon landed, returning to Palmon once again. The others gathered around to congratulate her, all the digimon having returned to their Rookie forms.

"That was very impressive," Ángel complimented them. "Muchomon and I have a lot to learn."

_"Sí,"_ Muchomon agreed, turning to Palmon. "I'm sorry for hurting you by mistake," he apologized.

_"De nada,"_ Palmon laughed.

Amanda was shaking the slime off, grumbling irritably to herself. "We need to try harder, Penguinmon."

"Hey, who thought we'd be facing a giant cybernetic Ultimate?" Penguinmon asked defensively. "We kicked butt with those Vilemon. Why couldn't we have some decent _minor_ evil minions before we get straight to the big guys?"

"Well, toughen up, the rest of them will probably be a lot tougher, if what I've heard is true," Jin told them.

"Don't worry," Amanda assured him. "We'll all be ready when—uh, Jin?"

It was then that the rest of them noticed that Jin didn't have any slime on him.

"What?" he asked.

"How did you avoid getting slimed?" Michael demanded.

Jin grinned confidently. "I dodged the attack. I'm that good," he told them. "Plus, I've got perfect—"

He was struck wetly in the face by a glob of slime Mimi had gathered in her hand.

"—reflexes."

* * *

Ángel let out a sigh as he looked up at the moon. He sat atop a hill and stared out over the lush tropical forest as it was bathed in the moonlight. This place was indeed very beautiful but there was something in the air that made him feel very anxious. He heard the flapping of wings and looked over his shoulder to see Muchomon fluttering up the hill after him.

_"Ángel, cómo estás?"_ Muchomon asked concernedly.

_"No puedo dormir. Estoy preocupado."_

"Worried? About what?"

"Some of the things Jin was talking about tonight."

Muchomon nodded. Jin apparently knew a lot about the Digital World, but didn't want to talk about it. Among the things he knew about were these Eight Gods of which MetalNumemon had been a member. He distinctly remembered what he said after they made camp and got cleaned up in a nearby pond:

* * *

"The Eight Gods are a gang of eight Ultimate level digimon," he'd said. "They're a bunch of thieves and assassins."

"What are they doing here?" Amanda asked.

"Beats me," Jin replied with a shrug.

"They were sent by the Ancient Enemy," Ángel said. "We were supposed to come here and fight them. I just know it."

"Maybe," Jin said. "That would explain why they weren't working together. From what I heard, those guys worked as a team to rob towns and take down targets. This time, we only had to deal with one: MetalNumemon. They sent their weakest member first."

"I just hope the rest of them aren't as disgusting," Mimi grumbled as she brushed her hair, which was still wet after washing the grime out of it.

"But that doesn't make sense," Amanda said. "If the Ancient Enemy is as strong as he's supposed to be, and we've all had nightmares about him wiping out whole cities, why would he need the Eight Gods to help him?"

* * *

That was the problem they were left with. Ángel didn't really understand why their foe would enlist the aid of Ultimates when he was more powerful than the eight of them combined. Or, for that matter, why he would send one instead of all eight. Either way would have doomed them. But even if it didn't make sense, Ángel knew that the Dark One had sent them. There was something about MetalNumemon, something he couldn't put his finger on. There was a disturbing energy behind him. He could sense the Ancient Enemy's presence even now, despite the fact that he was probably nowhere nearby. While he couldn't be sure, he did have an idea about what had happened.

"What are you thinking, Ángel?" Muchomon asked. "Are you getting one of those _feelings_ again?"

"Yes. I've been thinking about how Jin said MetalNumemon was supposed to be very weak, but we needed Lilymon to defeat him. Without her, he might have won. And then there's that energy I sensed coming from him."

"What energy?"

Ángel looked over to Muchomon solemnly. Muchomon understood: it was _his_ energy; that of the Ancient Enemy.

"The Ancient Enemy gave him some power to make him stronger. We would have defeated him easily otherwise. That might mean that the others will be much more difficult to beat than we thought."

"Why would he send others to fight for him if he has that kind of power?" Muchomon insisted.

"I don't know," Ángel said gravely. "Perhaps because—"

"Ángel!" Jin shouted, coming up the hill. "What are you doing? Everyone needs some sleep. We're getting up early tomorrow, so quit staring at the moon at get some rest!"

Ángel smiled. "Okay," he agreed. "I'm sorry."

Jin led the way back down the hill, then froze momentarily. "Er, no, it's all right. Sorry," he mumbled.

"What?"

"I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier when you asked me that question. And... I'm sorry for ordering you around just now. I don't mean to be a jerk, but there's… there's just something about this place that's bringing out the worst in me."

"The Digital World?" Ángel asked. Jin nodded.

"What about it?" Muchomon pressed.

Jin was silent, then continued down the hill. "Long story. I'll tell you later," he said. "Let's get back to camp before the others wander off to look for us."

* * *

"Michael." He stirred as he heard someone calling his name. "Michael." He resisted the urge to respond as he snuggled comfortably inside his sleeping bag. Still half asleep, he hoped someone would gently shake him from his slumber.

"Mike," the voice growled. _"Okiro!"_

The sudden, plain form Japanese didn't have a hint of sentiment. It obviously wasn't Mimi. He rolled over and stared up at Jin, who was already fully dressed and glowering down at him.

"I said, 'get up,'" he repeated, poking him with the toe of his boot.

"Jin… what time is it?" he asked groggily.

"Dawn."

"So, six o'clock, six thirty?"

Jin frowned impatiently. "In case you haven't noticed, we're in the wilderness. Who needs a watch? All I know is that the sun is coming up."

Michael looked and saw that the sky was taking on a glowing orange hue. However, he didn't actually see the sun and it was still fairly dark.

"Jin, the sun isn't even up. We're all tired from our battle yesterday—"

"I've been in fights that lasted a lot longer than that and gotten by on less sleep than you've already had. Besides, everyone else is either up or trying to get up."

Michael looked and saw that Angel was stretching his arms and legs, yawning occasionally, while Mimi was looking through her bags to find something new to wear, blinking her eyes, seemingly unable to focus well on the task. Amanda repeatedly sat up in her sleeping bag only to fall back in it while Penguinmon urged her to get up and stay that way.

"I wouldn't call them 'up,' to be honest." He rubbed his eyes. "Jin, why are you making us get up this early?"

"We need to get moving, get to higher ground so we can get the lay of the land. If we move now, we can take advantage of the morning coolness. If we wait, we'll have to walk when it's hot."

"Fine," Michael grumbled, getting up.

Penguinmon noticed how he was dressed and had an idea. "Hey Amanda! Michael's up and he's wearing nothing but boxer shorts!"

Amanda sat straight up in bed, her eyes popping. "Quick! Help me find my glasses!" she cried as she searched for them frantically.

Michael quickly put on a pair of jeans and his t-shirt from yesterday before the girl could get her glasses. "Well, let's make breakfast," he said, moving towards the supplies.

"The heck are you doing?" Jin demanded, putting himself between Michael and the food.

"Uh, getting breakfast. What's the problem?"

"All that food is non-perishable. It's for an emergency or if we can't find any food for us or our digimon."

"You've got to be kidding. There's enough food there to last weeks!"

The stern look on his face to him he was _not_ kidding.

"Well, what are we supposed to do instead?" Amanda demanded. "I'm starving."

"Get some berries or gather some fruit," Jin said, speaking to her like she was a small child.

"Why?"

"Because if we eat all our food and then we're forced to find more all the time, we might go hungry with no back up plan! You want to get yourselves killed?" Jin shouted. All the others stared at his sudden outburst. "This is the Digital World. Mimi, you've had to survive here for a while before, right? You want to go hungry?"

Mimi shook her head. "No, of course not, but..."

"Good," he said, calming down. "Now, everyone find some fruit. Palmon, check to make sure everything's edible."

"No problem!" Palmon agreed.

Jin turned and began to walk toward the woods. He gave a sharp whistle and Scarmon leapt to his feet and followed behind.

"What's eating him?" Amanda asked.

Michael crossed his arms and watched the older boy go. "It's just who he is. But he better watch how he treats us. No one voted him to be in charge."

Ángel took all this in silently. He wondered what Michael meant when he said it was "just who he is." Something told him that there was a lot about Jin Takamura that he did not yet understand.

_I didn't think this was going to be so difficult,_ he thought to himself. _It looks like I have a lot to learn about these people. They aren't anything like what I thought they'd be..._

* * *

The hilltop gave them all a much better view. Above the treetops, they now could see that the forest was very expansive. A huge mountain loomed at the center of the island and, to the northeast, a range of hills formed a ridge that obscured the view of the rest of the continent.

"Not a lot to see," Penguinmon remarked. "And it's way too hot here."

"Yes, but at least it's a beautiful place," Ángel said, trying to cheer Penguinmon up. "I wish I had come here before."

"Yeah, knowing we're here to fight a bunch of psychotic digimon trying to take it over takes all the fun out of it," Penguinmon grumbled.

"You worry too much!" Muchomon laughed. "I could fly around this place all day and not get bored. This is a lot more interesting than home!"

"That's because you live in a desert, flyboy," Penguinmon growled as his avian brother reminded him of his being flightless.

"Knock it off, you two," Jin said. "Scarmon and I went checking for tracks while you guys were getting breakfast this morning. We're going to see if we can hunt down something good for lunch."

"Like what?" Michael asked.

Jin shrugged. "You like chicken?"

"Sure."

"Then I can probably find something you'll like."

Everyone seemed happy at the prospect of some real food. The fruit and berries had left them a little unsatisfied, as a lot of it was tart or simply sour. Jin was the only one who had eaten it without complaint.

"Amanda, get our bearings and write them down," Jin ordered. "The rest of you set up camp in the clearing down there. We need a fire and some drinking water."

"You better bring back something to eat with all the work we're doing," Michael told him.

"Have you ever hunted?" Jin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No."

"Then you don't know how hard it is to actually track something down. Scarmon and I have a lot of experience, but if you think _you_ can do better—"

"Fine, fine!" Michael exclaimed, throwing his hands up. "I don't know why you're in such a bad mood today."

"I'm not—" Jin glared at him, looking like he was about to take that as a challenge or an insult, but instead took a deep breath and walked off with Scarmon.

Michael couldn't figure out why Jin was acting like this. He was being moody, even for him. He put it out of mind and decided it would be better to just get his work done. "Okay," he began, "who knows how to build a fire?"

* * *

Jin spied the rabbit in the dim light of the darkened woods as he crept slowly towards it. Careful to make as little noise as possible, he walked fluidly, one step at a time, freezing whenever the rabbit paused from its chewing to listen. He got very close, concealing himself behind trees as he approached it. When he was sure he was close enough, he removed his switchblade and unsheathed as silently as he could. Slowly taking a deep breath, he readied himself for the strike.

He leapt at the rabbit, knife aimed directly at it. The little creature sprang away as fast as it could, the knife embedding itself into the ground where it has been less than a second earlier. The rabbit dashed off into the forest.

With a frustrated grunt, Jin got back to his feet and chased after it, his eyes focused on the rabbit and also keeping an eye out for trees he might run into or vines he could trip on. Occasionally, the rabbit would dash through thicker underbrush, but Jin wasn't afraid of getting a few scratches and crashed right after it. Even as he tracked the rabbit, he listened for the sound of another creature moving unseen through the woods as well. Checking his maneuvers, he made sure that the rabbit continued in the right direction. Still, he couldn't help but think that this kind of thing used to be a lot easier. His legs were still a bit weak, of course, and now he was running out of breath. He began to lose ground, but kept up the chase so that the rabbit would go just a little farther.

"Now!" he shouted, seeing the perfect opportunity. Scarmon was ready and he burst from a bush nearby, tackling the rabbit with open jaws, silencing its cry of protest with a quick snap of them.

"Is it… did you… get it?" Jin asked.

Scarmon gave him a wide grin. Jin noticed the blood on his fangs and relaxed.

"Just like old times, right, buddy?"

"Yeah, this is great!" Scarmon said. "Those animals in New York were way too easy. I'll take a wild rabbit over a Central Park poodle anytime!"

"Well, a few more of these and we should have enough. Think you're up to one or two more ambushes?"

"All right!" Scarmon leapt up and down excitedly. "Let's go while I'm still in the mood to kill!"

"Do you know how weird it is to have a bloodthirsty lizard the size of a terrier for a best friend?" Jin chuckled, shaking his head.

"Hey, it's no weirder than having a hairless ape for one either."

* * *

Michael had to admit that lunch was delicious. Even without salt, the meat was tender and flavorful. Jin had taken the time to hunt down five of these things, clean them, prepare them, and now spit-roasted them for the whole group. This was good because no one had had much luck finding any fruit to eat.

"This is really good, Jin," Michael told him.

"Thanks," he said, disinterestedly.

"Hey, let's not forget who did most of the dirty work when your slow, human feet couldn't keep up with 'em!" Scarmon laughed.

"Well, this is very good," Ángel agreed, "but this tastes a little strange."

"It tastes fine to me," Jin said quickly.

"You know, he's right," Amanda said. "This doesn't taste _quite_ like chicken. I mean, I know it's from the Digital World, but I've done research and most non-digimon creatures are almost exactly like the animals on Earth."

"Jin?" Mimi asked. "These _are_ chickens, aren't they?"

Jin didn't look at them. "Not exactly."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter," Michael said. "I mean, this could be a duck or something else."

Ángel chewed thoughtfully. "I don't think this is duck. I think I may have had this once."

"Will you all be quiet and eat it?" Jin snapped. "I've eaten it before, it's fine."

Everyone was quiet then, assuming that Jin didn't know specifically what it was, but all assumed it was poultry until Ángel, in a burst of recognition, suddenly cried. "Oh, I know what this is! It is _conejo!"_

"Huh?" Amanda asked, Jin gesturing in vain that he should be quiet.

"It's… rabbit!" he confirmed with a grin, remembering the English word.

Mimi, Michael, and Amanda simultaneously dropped their plates.

_"B-bunnies?"_ Mimi cried, looking like she was about to cry.

"I had a rabbit for a pet when I was a kid," Michael whispered.

"I feel sick," Amanda said. She turned to Penguinmon, who was still eating his. "Penguinmon, how can you eat that?!"

"Hey, I'm a bird!" he cried defensively. "This is a lot less creepy to me than eating chicken. I'm not complaining!"

"Thanks a lot, Ángel," Jin growled. Their newest member shrank from him.

"Hey, don't pick on him!" Michael yelled. "It's your fault!"

"If you guys weren't so squeamish, there wouldn't be a problem!" Jin yelled, giving Michael a rough shove.

Momentarily shocked, Michael's face quickly darkened. "We'll always have a problem as long as we're taking orders from a half-crazed _savage_ like you!" Michael shot back, returning the shove.

Jin gave up on fighting with words and belted Michael across the face. The younger boy fell to the ground.

"Jin!" Mimi cried. "What's wrong with you?!"

"That does it," Michael hissed, getting up. "I've had it with you, Jin. I'm not going to let you push us around anymore."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Jin taunted, ignoring Mimi's protests.

Michael sprang forward and tried to land a right hook. Jin raised an arm, blocking it. The cocky smile on his face vanished when Michael's other fist socked him right in the stomach. He let out a surprised gasp and staggered back.

"Michael! Please, both of you stop fighting!" Mimi pleaded.

"Sorry, Mimi, but we have to settle this," Michael said, holding his fists up.

"You can settle in for the beating of a lifetime, preppie," Jin said, cracking his knuckles. "You really ought to be back off now."

"Leave him alone!" Betamon cried, running at them.

"Back off, frog legs!" Scarmon snarled, pouncing on him, pinning him to the ground. "This is _their_ fight! No digimon allowed!"

The two of them sized each other up as they stood in the small clearing. Jin stood still as a statue, while Michael held up his fists like a boxer.

"You weren't much help in that bar fight a few days ago," Jin told him. "Are you sure you don't want to quit and save yourself the embarrassment?"

"Shut up." Michael readied himself, slowly approaching Jin, looking for a vulnerable spot. The only problem was that Jin stood so still that his entire body looked vulnerable. This was a trick, of course. Jin was counting on his skill to counter any move he made. Still, Michael had some tricks up his sleeve as well.

He brought one arm back, as if to take a mighty swing at him. Then, while Jin watched his fist, he kicked forward, aiming for Jin's groin.

Jin almost fell for it, but realized what was happening just in time. He stepped backwards and seized Michael's foot.

"Hey!" Michael cried, more out of surprise than protest.

Jin pulled Michael forwards, yanking him off his other foot, bringing him to the ground. Then he kicked him in the stomach while he was down, lifted him off the ground by his shirt collar, and delivered another punch to the face before tossing him aside like a rag doll.

"Michael, are you okay?" Betamon cried.

Michael stood uneasily, blood trickling from his nose. He wiped it away and held up his fists once again. "I'm fine," he grunted, though he was obviously out of breath and in a lot of pain.

"Just give up," Jin laughed. "You're out of your league."

Michael ignored the insult. He realized that Jin couldn't be overpowered. He was a much better fighter and was much stronger than him. If he was going to beat him, he would need to outsmart him. Therefore, instead of attacking first, he'd go on the defense and let Jin make the first move.

"I'm not giving up, Jin," Michael said. "Maybe if I was gutter trash like _you_, I'd quit..."

Jin narrowed his eyes and ran at him. This time, Michael was able to dance backwards before Jin could take a swing. The older boy had a lot of power behind his punches, but he moved somewhat slowly. He missed and was still recovering from the swing when Michael landed three quick jabs to Jin's face.

If Michael hadn't gotten overzealous and tried for a fourth hit, he might have been okay. As it were, he got greedy and Jin seized him by one arm, then by the other, and landed a vicious head butt, followed by massive blow to the abdomen, knocking the wind out of him for a second time. Finally, he backhanded him across the face, sending him rolling to the side.

"Stay. _Down,"_ Jin admonished.

_I can't do it,_ Michael thought. _He's just too powerful. He doesn't even feel it when I hit him, but I feel like I'm about to pass out already! If only I could find a way to use my speed. He's a lot slower than when we fought last year…_

A grin appeared on his face as he got up for the second time.

"Finish him, Jin!" Scarmon cheered.

"Do they fight like this a lot?" Ángel asked Amanda, shocked at the brutality of the fight.

"No, but this has been a long time coming," she replied. "They haven't been getting along at all for as long as I've known them."

"Then why don't we stop them?"

Amanda looked at both of them, her gaze somewhat fearful when she saw Jin's cruel grin. "I... don't really want to get in the middle of this."

"Michael, give up before you get really hurt!" Betamon entreated him, still struggling to get free of Scarmon's grip.

"Don't worry," he panted. "I've got him right where I want him!"

"That last blow to the head must have given you brain damage," Jin remarked. "I might as well finish you off."

Jin charged headlong at him, trying to catch him with an uppercut, but Michael again dodged the punch. This time, he didn't counterattack. Jin took another wild swing that Michael managed to avoid, then grew angry and began throwing them wildly. When Michael saw how much trouble Jin had keeping up, he made his move. Rather than try to land some more punches, he moved aside and gave him a light shove, sending him sprawling forward. It was then that he saw the break he'd been looking for. He pulled his foot back and brought it forward, with all his strength, kicking into the back of Jin's leg.

Jin let out a howl of pain and collapsed.

_I knew it!_ Michael exclaimed to himself. _His upper body is still strong, but he's slow and vulnerable in his legs. He still hasn't recovered from all that time in the wheelchair._

Jin stood up, his face a grimace of pain, only to meet with a flurry of punches from Michael, followed by a quick roundhouse kick upside his temple. He went down hard and was still for a few moments.

"You aren't so tough," Michael shouted, wiping more blood from his nose. "If you think you can still win on those legs, then come and get me!"

"Shut up," Jin growled as he stood. He was breathing heavy and his stance changed. He looked less like a boy now and more like a beast. "Okay, I was holding back, but now you went and pissed me off. I'll make you pay for that. Not even your daddy has enough money to fix what I'm going to do to you."

Though not usually much for repartee, Michael wasn't about to let him bring family into the equation. He shot back a reply as soon as it came to mind, but nobody was prepared for it:

"Don't kid yourself. I'm going to punish you like your _mother_ should have."

He clapped a hand over his mouth the instant he said it. Mimi gasped in horror. Amanda and Ángel had no idea of the severity of the situation, but it became apparent when they saw Jin's face.

After Michael's remark, Jin's eyes went wide. At the edge of them, tears began to form. Then the sorrow melted and, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, his expression became that of a lunatic. He was actually trembling in anger. Michael backed away when he saw the fierceness in Jin's eyes. There could be no doubt about it: Jin had just lost control over whatever was keeping him from getting really brutal.

_"Jin, don't!"_ Mimi screamed.

Her words fell on deaf ears, however. Jin ignored the pain in his leg and ran at Michael at full speed, tackling him to the ground before unleashing all his fury. Before Jin landed the first punch, Michael noticed a dull red glow emanating from under Jin's shirt.

* * *

When Michael awoke, he was flat on his back and he saw Mimi looking down at him, her face soft and concerned. "Am I in Heaven?" he whispered.

"No, you're in Purgatory," Amanda said. "As retribution for past sins, you get Mimi and I for nurses."

"I think I'm in good hands," Michael chuckled, groaning when the action reminded him of his pain.

"I'll get you some water," Mimi told him, leaving his side for a moment.

"Thank you, Mi—ungh!" He was cut short as Amanda shoved a wad of tissue under his nose.

"How do you feel, Michael?" Betamon asked.

"Like I got hit by a freight train," he replied honestly. "What happened?"

"Well, you mentioned Jin's mother, which Mimi tells me is a touchy subject for him, and he beat the living snot out of you."

"I... I didn't mean it like that, I just said the first thing that came to mind."

"Mimi didn't tell me why his mother is such a sore spot for him."

Michael hesitated before answering. "His mother's dead."

Amanda froze. "Oh... oh my god." Then she made a face at him. "I know it just slipped out, but _mon Dieu,_ that's still pretty low."

"I know, I know," Michael said, sighing as he sat up. "Where is he now?" he asked.

"He and Scarmon left. Despite what you said, I... I think he feels guilty about hurting you so badly."

"Well he should!" Michael cried, sending another wave of pain through his body.

"He might not have knocked you out if you hadn't mentioned his mother," Betamon reminded him.

Michael sighed. "I guess you're right. That really was a low blow." Then, looking around as best he could, he noticed that some other members of their party were missing.

"Where are Ángel and Muchomon?"

Amanda looked around. "Huh? Oh, uh... that's a good question."

* * *

"Jin!" a voice called. "Jin, hold on!"

Jin looked over his shoulder to see Ángel running after him. "Crap," he grumbled, and tried to get away. He was limping, though, and he gave up when he saw he had no chance of outrunning him.

"Leave me alone, Ángel," Jin commanded him.

"Yeah, get lost!" Scarmon agreed.

"You two act more like twins than Digidestined partners," Muchomon laughed.

Scarmon and Jin both looked at each other, surprised by Muchomon's last remark.

"Listen, I just got in a fight and I'm not in the mood for jokes, so back off, you flying feather duster!"

"Hey!"

"Take it easy, Muchomon," Ángel said, taking hold of him and stroking his feathers soothingly. "We came to help, not get in another fight."

"If you want to avoid a fight, then leave me alone," Jin told him.

Ángel shook his head. He wasn't doing so in disagreement, however. There was a look on his face that Jin recognized as pity.

"Jin, what is wrong?" Ángel asked.

"It's just a little sore. I'll be able to walk normally in a little while," he told him, patting his leg.

"You know that isn't what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?" Jin looked him over, untrusting.

"I mean, why are you acting this way?" he asked. "You brought your friends all the way to México to find me. You seemed very nice, like a big brother. But now, you've become a completely different person! Everyone wants to do the right thing, but you act like our every move is a mistake. You apologized last night for yelling at me, so I thought you were just in a bad mood yesterday. But now I don't think so; something else is bothering you." He took a deep breath. "I... I can sense it."

Jin was silent, and though he had a stone cold, emotionless face, there was something in his eyes that Ángel picked up on.

"You mentioned something about the Digital World."

Jin bit his lip.

"Hey, that's right," Scarmon said. "You never told him—"

"Scarmon!" Jin barked.

Ángel took a step closer, looking into his gray eyes. "You are afraid."

"What are you talking about?" Jin growled, snatching Scarmon up, moving away. "I'm sick of listening to you. Don't follow me."

"You _are_ afraid!" Ángel insisted, watching him go. "You have fears you are afraid to face, and you are afraid to tell anyone else about them. This place scares you more than you thought it would and as long as you refuse to face it, it will only get worse! If you don't face them, they will take you over!"

Jin whirled around and stomped back towards him. The fierce look in his eyes made Ángel back up nervously. "You don't even know the _meaning_ of fear," Jin growled. "I spent thousands of nights here, with no one but Scarmon to keep me company. I faced monsters that I never would have imagined in my worst nightmares and the two of us stared them down. I ran from soldiers of the Dark Masters and the Digimon Emperor. What made it worse was trying to get enough to eat, or when one of us got sick. Have you ever had to run from a Gigadramon while carrying a digimon too sick to digivolve? Have you ever had to escape from an angry Monochromon when you were caught drinking from 'his' pond? Do you have one of _these?"_ He screamed that last word, lifting up his shirt and revealing an enormous scar arching from his lower back and up his side. "I almost died from this! I almost bled to death because I made one mistake and got a massive gash from a Monochromon horn! Have you ever had any of that happen to you?"

Ángel stood his ground before Jin, not flinching from his hateful gaze. "No, I haven't," he replied, "and until now, I didn't know you had either."

"Understand now?"

"You were trapped here for a long time?"

"Five years, Ángel," Jin affirmed. "Five years with only me, Scarmon, and the dream of getting home, when I didn't know that I didn't even have a home to get back to."

"What do you mean?"

His voice grew soft. "While I was trapped in the Digital World, long before we just had digiports to get back easily, my mother caught something. Some sort of pneumonia. She... she was gone before I ever got back..."

Ángel ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to say. I had no idea."

Jin took a deep breath. "So, now are you happy?"

Ángel hesitated, then shook his head. "No, there's still something you haven't told me."

"What?"

"Why did you fight with Michael?"

Jin blinked in confusion. "Because… well, because he…" He struggled for an explanation. He and Michael had never gotten along. He was so used to it, he had almost forgotten the reason.

"Because he always treats me like I'm a rotten punk," he answered. "He acts like I'm some kind of savage. And the thing is…" he had grown quiet now, his voice pained, "…he's probably right about me."

* * *

Michael sat up suddenly. All the others looked to the north when they heard the sound. It was a sound that never ceased to send shivers up his spine: it was the sound of Mimi screaming.

"Come on, she needs us!" Michael shouted, getting up, wincing in pain.

"Michael, be careful," Betamon warned him.

"I'll be all right. Just go ahead of me and I'll catch up!"

"Forget that! We need to get there fast!" Betamon protested as he began to glow. _"Betamon digivolve to… Seadramon!"_

"Well, here's one thing we have to thank Jin for," Amanda said.

"What's that?" Michael grunted as he helped her onto Seadramon's back, the latter charging through the jungle towards the sound of Mimi's voice.

"If it wasn't for the rabbit he fed us, Betamon wouldn't have eaten enough and he wouldn't have the energy to digivolve."

Michael was taken aback. He had to admit that Amanda was right; Jin's resourcefulness and expertise had worked out and they hadn't even needed to dip into their rations. Now, if only Jin and Ángel were still around to help.

They came upon Mimi nearby a riverbank. She was huddled behind a rock and Lilymon was already in the air, fully digivolved. He gasped when he saw what she was fighting.

The creature had the appearance of a gigantic serpent with black scales and a red underbelly. However, midway through its body was tuft of light fur from which sprang one normal, organic head, and seven cybernetic ones.

"That's Orochimon," Amanda read from her analyzer. "He's an ultimate, virus type. Known especially for his violent temper—"

"—And sssoon to be known for eliminating you bratsss!" he hissed.

"I could use some help!" Lilymon cried, panicking. "This guy's tough!"

This was apparently the case, as Lilymon's speed in the air was of little use. Orochimon ducked every time she tried to swoop in and attack and used one of his metal heads as a shield each time she fired her Flower Cannon.

"Help her out, Seadramon!" Michael ordered, dismounting his partner's back along with Amanda. "You and Penguinmon help Lilymon," he told her, "while I make sure Mimi's okay."

"What am I supposed to do?" Amanda called angrily after him. "Throw a rock at him and hope I knock him out?"

"Just see if you can find any information about his attacks or weaknesses on the Analyzer!" Penguinmon advised her. "In the meantime: _Penguinmon digivolve to… Frigimon!"_

Lilymon dived at him again only to be snatched out of the air in the jaws of one of the metal heads. She cried in pain as it bit down, nearly crushing the air out of her. Seadramon tried to strike at his main head with an ice blast, but it was shielded by one of the heads. Trying to get at his organic head did little good either, since several metal heads always rushed at him to counter any attack he made. Seadramon had never fought an enemy this quick and found that his own serpentine agility was no match for Orochimon's.

"Mimi, what happened?" Michael asked Mimi from her hiding spot.

"I was just getting you some water, when that… that _thing_ appeared! He just attacked me and Palmon for no reason!"

"Let's see," Amanda said, working with her analyzer, searching from some useful information. "Oh, here it is: 'Weaknesses: None known.' Oh that's just great!"

_"Subzero Ice Punch!"_ Frigimon attacked. One of the heads was frozen temporarily, but another quickly struck it, shattering the spreading ice from its hull.

"You're all weaklingsss," Orochimon snickered. "Now you will know the penalty of thinking you can defeat the Eight Godsss!"

"He's one of the Eight Gods?" Mimi cried. "We can't beat him alone! Where are Jin and Ángel?"

"We don't know! We'll have to hang in there until they show up!" Michael exclaimed.

Orochimon was tired of these pests. He threw Lilymon into Frigimon and then knocked Seadramon onto them. With a wicked grin and a flick of his forked tongue, he rose up and tilted his head back, ready to unleash his attack.

"I found his attack!" Amanda cheered. "It's called—"

_"Inferno Blassst!"_ Orochimon shouted, unleashing a cloud of flame upon the heap of his downed opponents. The three of them all struggled, their agonized screams making the children's blood run cold. When the fire cleared, all three had returned to their Rookie stages.

"They're all weak against fire attacks," Amanda groaned, mostly to herself as she scooped up an unconscious Penguinmon. "Hey, Penguinmon? Come on, Penguinmon, wake up!" she cried, growing more desperate by the moment.

"Run for it!" Michael shouted, as he and Mimi took hold of Betamon and Palmon. The three of them ran, cradling their partners as their powerful foe slithered through the woods after them, knocking down trees as he went.

* * *

"I think I understand you now," Ángel said, nodding thoughtfully.

"Hey, you just met me yesterday!" he snapped. "You don't know me at all!"

"I can read you better than you can read yourself," Ángel said, his eyes taking on an odd, dreamy quality. "I can sense your confusion, just as I could sense your fear. It is in your eyes as well as your heart."

Jin took a step back. "You're weird," he said. "You act like you're some kind of fortune teller."

"I am no fortune teller," Ángel admitted. "But just as you are skilled at surviving in this world, I have my own abilities."

"Fine, if you know me so well," Jin challenged, "then you tell me what my problem is."

Ángel nodded, closing his eyes. Despite this, Jin felt something like this younger boy was staring deep into his very being and he shifted uncomfortably. "You carry something dark inside your heart. It is as if you are afraid that it is your true nature, that you really are not a good person. Michael reminds you of things you don't like about yourself and you become angry because he won't let you forget. But that is only part of it. I can sense that you carry more than this. You not only have your fear and this darkness, but also a kind of guilt."

Jin backed away from him, his eyes suspicious and afraid. Then, growing angry, curling a fist, he stood his ground. "You're wrong."

"And now you're lying."

"Shut up!" Jin shouted, belting him in the face.

"Jin!" Scarmon shouted, surprised at this violent outburst, which was a bit much even for him. "I know this is a touchy subject, but it's not like he's _trying_ to bug you!"

"Ángel are you all right?" Muchomon asked.

"I'm fine, don't worry," Ángel assured his partner, rubbing his jaw tenderly, paying no attention to the pain. "I know you're angry, Jin, but you will never be happy if you continue to carry your guilt with you."

"I don't need your help. I can manage on my own."

"You could have fooled me," Ángel said. "Just talk to me."

"You want me to talk? Force me!" Jin spat, raising his fists.

"Jin, don't do this!" Ángel pleaded, raising his hands defensively. "I won't fight you, but—"

In mid-sentence, Ángel froze, looking at the tree line curiously. Jin looked in the same direction, not understanding until he heard an odd noise. It was the sound of something large stomping towards them. It was very close, but in the heat of the moment, none of them had heard it coming. Scarmon stiffened and growled, while Muchomon appeared at his side. Something was coming, and it was almost there.

Then, parting the branches before it, the stranger appeared. It was a large creature, over ten feet tall, with leathery scales all over its body. It walked on two legs, each foot with three toes and it had humanoid hands, as well as a long tail. It was covered with green scales and had a long snout lined with sharp teeth. It was dressed in ragged blue jeans and wore a khaki vest, along with a necklace adorned with bones. The creature looked very much like a crocodile, except for its human-like features. It stopped when it saw them.

"Oh, hi," it said. "My name's Crocmon and I'm looking for the nearest river. Any of you seen it?"

"I think there was one a few miles that way," Scarmon told him, pointing with one claw.

Crocmon looked to Scarmon and his eyes went wide in shock. Then, a vicious, toothy smile appeared on his face. "YOU!" he bellowed. "I'VE FINALLY FOUND YOU!"

"I didn't know you were missing," Muchomon remarked to Scarmon.

"Quiet!" Scarmon growled to Muchomon before turning to Crocmon. "Hey, what are you talking about? I don't know you!"

"Oh yes you do. I memorized your scent, your voice, and your evil grin... I'd recognize you anywhere," Crocmon said, giggling ecstatically. "Maybe you remember me from the Great Desert of Spiral Mountain!"

Jin cocked his head to one side, his hand going to the wound at his side. "That was where we got into the fight with that Monochromon a few years ago. My back was slashed and I was nearly killed."

Scarmon nodded, and in his mind he remembered that horrible day. The day he'd been unable to protect his partner and the two of them had nearly died fighting Machinedramon and his forces. He had panicked when Jin was injured so badly and he didn't know much about how to take care of him. If it hadn't been for that oasis...

He froze. "Wait. You couldn't be..." he thought for a moment. "Gatormon?"

"Ha! Now you remember!" Crocmon roared.

"Who? Scarmon, what is he talking about?" Jin asked.

"When you got hurt that day, I heard about a miracle cure all, the Phoenix Fruit. It only grew in one oasis in the middle of the desert, so I ran for almost an entire day to find it."

"I remember that," Jin said. "But what does that have to do with this guy?"

"One whole fruit can heal any injury and restore strength. There were two in that oasis, but I was worn out from running, so I needed Gatormon's help. But I had to eat one to get back and bring the other one back to save you. I had to leave him..."

"But I was there first! And I helped you get that first fruit!" he shouted. "I found it first and I was nearly dead from starvation. I tried to get it, but only you were strong enough to reach it first. I begged you to let me have some, even a little piece, but you said no and left me," he told him hatefully. "You left me to starve to death in the middle of the desert!"

"Why would you do that?" Ángel asked Scarmon.

"Hey, I didn't have a choice!" Scarmon protested. "Jin was dying! He… he needed my help to get him some food… he couldn't walk or even sit up!"

Jin let out a sigh and looked away, embarrassed at the mention of one of his more vulnerable moments.

"I couldn't spare even one bite of that fruit or it wouldn't heal Jin! He's my partner, I had to save him!" Scarmon finished.

"Well, that's too bad," Crocmon sneered. "Because now you and your partner will pay."

"Wait!" Ángel protested. "That's not fair. Scarmon did what he thought was right. Besides, you survived, so why are you still angry?"

"I was nearly crippled with hunger pain," Crocmon told him bitterly. "I crawled for miles on my belly, a mere Rookie trying to survive. The only thing sustaining me was my anger. The only thing that gave me the strength to survive was the thought of paying that little thief back. And I gathered my strength so that I could digivolve and have the strength to fight back. Now, I'm a Champion and I can finally get my revenge. My hatred is what gave me my strength, and I'll use it to pay you back."

"Well, why argue when we can fight about it?" Scarmon said with shrug. _"Scarmon digivolve to… Venomon!"_

Crocmon was unfazed. "So, you can digivolve at will, eh? I'll still beat you, even with your added strength!"

"Let's see how big you talk when you're a suitcase," Venomon growled, barring his teeth.

_"Muchomon digivolve to… FlareLizamon!"_

Venomon looked at his teammate. "What are you doing? This is my fight, between my partner, me, and this clown."

"Maybe you and Jin haven't noticed, but you're part of a team. And since you're in a fight, it's my fight, too."

Venomon cracked a smile. "Well, as long as you don't accidentally hit me like you did Togemon yesterday, I'll let you give me a hand."

Crocmon looked from one to the other. "It's just like you to try and outnumber me, Scarmon," he said. "But I'll beat you and anyone else you bring with you, no matter how dirty you fight."

_"Venom Spit!"_

_"Blazing Inferno!"_

Crocmon leapt over both attacks on his powerful hind legs. _"Tail Thrash!"_ he attacked, bringing his immense tail down upon FlareLizamon, knocking him to the ground. _"Crush Bite!"_ His second attack was aimed at Venomon and he brought his massive jaws down upon his enemy's head, squeezing it like a vice.

"Venomon, sting him!" Jin shouted.

_"Venom Sting!"_ he attacked, taking Jin's advice. To his surprise, the small stinger on his tail couldn't penetrate Crocmon's tough, leathery hide. He could hear Crocmon laugh contemptuously and struggled to get free, acutely aware of the stabbing pain in his head where Crocmon's teeth sank in.

_"Blaze Buster!"_ FlareLizamon shot a small fireball that scorched Crocmon's vest. He released Venomon as he let out a cry of pain, but managed to extinguish the flames quickly.

_"Tail Thrash!"_ Crocmon attacked, spinning around and using his tail to knock both of them off their feet. He began to laugh maniacally then, his face horrible and vicious as he shouted, "I've waited so long for this! I'll kill both of you with my bare hands!" He then raised his tail a second time and brought it down with a thunderous crash. Jin and Ángel, standing nearby as they cheered their partners on, were knocked into the air from the sheer force of the impact and both tumbled backwards, into the jungle and down and embankment. Ángel reached for something to grab hold of to stop his fall, but slammed his back into a tree. Momentarily dizzied by the pain, he looked around trying to spot Jin. He noticed him crawling up the side of the embankment on his hands and knees, slowly getting to his feet.

"Jin!" Ángel called. He thought for a moment that he might have been hurt. To his surprise, Jin started to chuckle. Then, with crescendo it became a full-blown laugh. There was ugliness to it that Ángel picked up on immediately. Again he could sense the darkness he'd detected earlier. The sense of it was coming from Jin, welling up from inside his heart, becoming suddenly much more intense.

"You know something, Ángel?" Jin asked, his voice icy and calm. "You're right. I do feel guilty about who I am. I've got a dark nature, just like you said. And getting trapped in the Digital World, losing my mother, and losing any chance I might have had for a normal life are what I have to do to pay for it. Did you know I'm ducking parole from a juvenile hall to be here? That means I can't even go back to New York, where all my friends are. I'm not meant to be good. Mimi had me thinking otherwise, but she was wrong about me. I guess Michael had it right."

"What are you talking about?" Ángel asked, coming up behind him.

Jin turned to face him. There was pain in his eyes, but also a look of devious excitement. More disturbing was the smile on his face. It was a tight, vicious grimace, and Ángel noted that it resembled Crocmon's.

"When I first got sent on this mission," Jin continued, "I was told that I should never use this." Here he reached under his shirt and retrieved his Crest. "This is the Crest of Rage."

"That was what was glowing under your shirt when you fought Michael?"

Jin nodded. "It gave me a lot of power, but it made me vicious and cruel. I never showed any mercy, and told Scarmon to be as harsh as possible. And you know what... I actually loved it. That's what Crocmon and I have in common: we both embraced our dark natures and became stronger. I really was one of the bad guys the whole time. I almost… I almost ordered a fully-digivolved Scarmon to destroy New York because I thought it could be a way to pay for the things I've done in the past. That's how messed up I was. If I use this, I could lose control again."

Ángel watched as Jin looked up the hill, the sounds of the raging battle coming down to them.

"Well, Michael's right about me. I may feel guilty, but it's just making me weak. It's time to admit that I'm not cut out to be one of the good ones. If we're going to beat enemies this powerful, we'll need all the firepower we can get, so it's time to stop being _nice._"

"What are you saying?" Ángel asked, not liking where this was going.

"I'm going to use this Crest and stomp that walking suitcase into the ground," Jin told him, walking up the hill. "Let's just get this over with so the others can go home and I can ride out this downward spiral."

"No! Don't!" Ángel protested, charging up the hill behind him.

"Why not? Crocmon's rage gives him strength; now I'll use mine. Even if I have to let my dark side show, it's only me showing my true colors. I'm going to take down these guys just like the old days."

He started to laugh again, the grin on his face becoming even more maniacal. "Now, keep out of my way, Ángel," he commanded him. "Scarmon and I are going to do what we do best. It's going to get _messy_."

Ángel sprinted forward desperately and put himself between Jin and the top of the hill.

"What are you doing?" Jin demanded.

"Jin, you have to stop!"

"Why?" Jin sneered. "I'm a ruthless thug whose only real power comes from darkness. I can't help who I am and I'm tired of pretending."

"That is who you _were,"_ Ángel told him. "But that isn't who you _are._"

"What do you know?" Jin grunted, shoving Ángel to the side. He went on but he felt something grab him by the leg and he was pulled to the ground. He and Ángel were both struggling against the steep incline to get their footing.

"I know that you are not an evil person, Jin," Ángel told him. "I can see it, even if you cannot! You blame yourself for the things that have happened to you, but you haven't even noticed all the good you have done just while I've known you."

"Save it!" Jin snapped, continuing up the hill. "I've got work to do."

"You promised my mother that you would watch out for me," Ángel said. Jin turned to face him, surprised that he knew. "I heard you. You feel responsible because you are the oldest and because you feel like you owe the Digital World to pay for your past sins. Since we got here, you've been trying to protect all of us. You've hunted for food, tried to come up with a plan for survival, and you obviously feel sorry for hurting Michael. Even if you don't get along, even if you lose your temper, you still care too much to be an evil person."

Jin looked away embarrassedly. "I'm just... I don't want the others to get hurt."

"Then think of what giving in to your rage would do," Ángel said. "Mimi believes in you, and so do I. And I think you want to prove Michael wrong. You don't want them to see you like you were, do you?"

Jin let out a sigh. "No," he said. His voice was now tranquil, the anger gone and the violent urge behind it extinguished. "No. You're right I don't." He offered Ángel a weak smile. "Okay, I'll give you a chance. I'll try to be one of the good ones."

Ángel breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear it," he said. Then, looking to the top of the embankment, said, "Now, let's go kick Crocmon's ass."

Jin had to laugh as they both made it to the top of the hill. He saw Venomon and FlareLizamon both lying flat on the ground, trying to get up as Crocmon lashed them repeatedly with his tail. He felt his anger rise up again, but it was overpowered by this desire to help, to see his partner, and Ángel's partner, kept safe from further harm. It was in that moment that his digivice began to beep.

"What the…"

"Mine's doing that too," Ángel said. "What does that mean?"

Jin looked and saw both Venomon and FlareLizamon glowing brightly, the light of it too much for Crocmon as he backed away.

"I think it means we just found the solution to our problem," Jin replied, a smile on his face.

Venomon and FlareLizamon began to shift, their forms melting and commingling into one form, their voices merging to one. Jin and Ángel felt something similar, their own thoughts no longer their own, but shared with the other.

_"Venomon…"_

_"FlareLizamon…"_

_"…DNA digivolve to…"_

They stood in their new form seconds later. It had a black, scaly body, like Venomon, but it was slender and lean, like FlareLizamon's. His tail was long and bore a small green flame burning at the end. His hands and feet were also engulfed in green flame. On his face was a chrome metal mask, concealing the top half of his reptilian face, with Venomon's white eyes staring out. Finally, green flames spouted from the top of his head like a mane of wild hair. He was taller than either of the two digimon and his sleek form obviously contained a lot of hidden strength and speed.

_"…Quemamon!"_

"What are you up to now, Scarmon?" Crocmon snarled.

"We aren't Scarmon," Quemamon answered. "We're only half of your enemy. Scarmon never wanted to see you hurt, but he did what he thought was right. If you walk away, you can end this."

"I didn't wait this long to quit," Crocmon growled hatefully.

"You can either give up," Quemamon told him, cracking his knuckles, "or you can get hurt."

Crocmon was through with discussion and leaped into the air. Quemamon rushed forward, then jumped up and grabbed onto Crocmon's tail. Before Crocmon had time to react, Quemamon had already begun to spin around, swinging Crocmon by it. Once he had gathered up enough speed, he released Crocmon, flinging him high into the air to land somewhere farther off.

"That was easy," Quemamon remarked, dusting off his hands.

"Hey, I'm getting some signals from the others," Jin said, checking his digivice. "They're in the direction you just sent Crocmon. Come on, let's move before he goes after them too!"

* * *

"You kidsss can't run forever!" Orochimon hissed.

"He's right!" Mimi cried, still running for all she was worth as Orochimon came after them. The trees he crashed through slowed him down, but only marginally. Any minute now, he would catch up to them.

"We need a miracle!" Michael exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, miracles don't just fall out of the sky, right?" Amanda snapped.

Just then, Crocmon plummeted out of the sky and landed on top of Orochimon, stopping him cold. The three children were so surprised they froze in their tracks as well.

Amanda blinked, then looked hopefully up at the sky. "Gorgeous foreign bishounen don't just fall out of the sky, right?"

No sooner had she said that, then Quemamon, carrying his two partners, leapt over the trees and amid the group. Jin and Ángel, who'd been riding on his shoulders, got off and faced the group.

"Sorry we're late!" they said in unison.

"Cool!" Amanda squealed. "Gorgeous _naked_ foreign bishounen don't just fall out of the sky, right?"

Amanda's disappointment would have to wait, however, as Orochimon got up with a roar, tossing Crocmon aside.

"You fool!" Orochimon raised himself up menacingly before Crocmon. "How dare you come between one of the Eight Godsss and hisss prey!"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault, you lisping freak!"

"I don't have time for thisss!" Orochimon exclaimed, grabbing him by the arms with two of his heads, then throwing the protesting Crocmon as hard as he could, his yells fading as he disappeared from sight. "In the meantime, who'sss thiss?"

"We are Quemamon!" he announced.

"Where did he come from?" Mimi asked.

"He's our partner," Jin answered.

"He digivolved from Venomon and FlareLizamon," Ángel added.

"Despite your tricksss, you still don't have the power to defeat me!" Orochimon cackled.

Quemamon said nothing, but merely yawned, as if Orochimon was hardly worth of concern at all. Enraged, Orochimon attacked.

_"Inferno Blast!"_ The cloud of fire rushed at Quemamon, who waited until the last moment before extending his arms then letting the green flame form around him, letting Orochimon's attack pass harmless over him.

"Wow," Michael remarked, impressed. "He's using that fire as a shield."

"That's not actually fire," Amanda said, busy with her pocket analyzer. "Those are plasma flames. It's actually an extremely hot gas which can burn away almost any organic material!"

Quemamon was ready when Orochimon's attack had failed. He raised one fist, then plunged it into the earth. _"Scorched Earth!"_ he attacked, sending a tall, wide wall of the green plasma at Orochimon, laying to waste all the plant life that lay in its path. Orochimon ducked his organic head back as he put his metallic heads in front of him as a shield. The shield worked and Orochimon snickered arrogantly behind it. Until he heard another voice laughing loudly.

"Up here, skinny!" Quemamon hollered.

Orochimon looked above him and saw that Quemamon had sprung into the air and had his hands together, his fingers pointed at him like a gun. _"Plasma Column!"_ he attacked, sending a long, steady stream of the plasma from his hands. The attack cut through the distance between them like a rocket and hit Orochimon's unprotected head perfectly. He gave one last hissing shriek before the column shot down the length of his body, burning it to ashes. His seven remaining disembodied heads tumbled from the air and landed with loud clangs before they too shattered into data.

"I guess that leaves six left out of eight," Quemamon laughed, before reverting back into Scarmon and Muchomon.

"Wow, that was great!" Mimi exclaimed. Amanda was beaming at the two, rendered uncharacteristically speechless.

Michael, however, stood by and tapped his foot impatiently. "So, where were you, Jin?" Michael asked. "We could have used your help back there."

Jin scowled at Michael for a moment, then seemed to relax. "Sorry about that," he apologized.

Mimi, Amanda, Michael and all of their respective partners gawked at him, unable to believe their ears.

"Wha… what did you say?" Michael asked.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to help," he said. "And I'm sorry for hurting you. And not telling you guys that lunch was rabbit. And… well, for how I've acted since we got here."

Michael cocked his head to one side. A small smile appeared on his face. "So, does that mean you're going to stop being a jerk to everyone?"

Jin extended his hand to Michael, who paused a moment, then accepted it and shook it. "Yep, no more being a jerk to everyone." Then, Jin pulled him forward and tripped him with one extended foot, sending him sprawling into the dirt. He wasn't hurt anywhere, except maybe in his pride.

"Not to everyone," Jin laughed, helping him up. "Just to you."

**To be continued...**

* * *

_(Next time: A city in the clouds, an ego the size of a blimp, and overactive hormones cause more trouble as Amanda gets an important lesson in growing up... and peeping!)_

_P.S. Leave a **review**, please, I love to hear from readers!_


	10. Airsick and Seeing Stars

**Chapter Nine:**

**Airsick and Seeing Stars**

After the events of the previous day, everyone was feeling drained. Mimi fell asleep not long after the sun went down and didn't wake up until dinnertime. By that point, everyone was too tired to do much hunting or foraging, so they opened up some of their rations. One thing was very apparent to all of them, however: Jin had changed.

"Jin really does seem to be doing better," Mimi remarked as she watched Jin stir the instant soup as it boiled over the campfire.

"Yeah," Michael admitted. "It's actually a little weird, but he seems to have mellowed out a bit."

Amanda noticed that Jin had not merely "mellowed out," however. Though not usually adept at reading other people, she had certainly noticed that the moody, brooding drill sergeant she'd seen yesterday was gone. Most surprisingly of all, he seemed to be _happy._ Even as he made the soup and served it to the others, he wore a peaceful, happy smile on his face. In the short time she had known the boy, she had rarely seen him smile and even when he did smile it was a wry smirk or a mischievous grin. The others quickly took notice of it as well. Whatever had happened while he was away must have really affected him.

Michael was more surprised than anyone. "I wonder what got into him," he said, taking a spoonful of soup as he watched Jin talking with Ángel. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Maybe Ángel said something to him," Mimi said. "They DNA digivolved and that's supposed to happen if you're really close to someone… or something like that."

Mimi just laughed it off, admitting she really didn't know too much about the subject, but Amanda's interest was piqued. Jin's change of heart was so sudden and drastic. The only thing that was certain was that somehow Ángel was involved. It was a wonder that he could make such an impression in only a few days. It bordered on miraculous, actually.

_Then again_, she thought, _Ángel seems like the kind of guy who can make miracles happen. Back at his little village everyone treated him - and us - like... well, not like normal people. Like we were special._ She considered her own situation back home where she had carved out her own place of respect, but the kids at school didn't treat her too differently. Or better, she thought ruefully.

She had watched the two boys for a while and seen them laughing about some comment one had made and finally gave in to her curiosity. She got up from where she sat and approached the pair of them.

"Hey, Ángel, could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Oh, yes, what is it?"

"Er... in private?"

Ángel seemed momentarily flustered for some reason, but he complied, nodding to Jin that he'd be back momentarily.

"What is it, Amanda?" he asked. He stared at her intently, which made her uncomfortable, then frowned as he heaved a sigh. "You're just curious about me."

Amanda was irritated by that last comment. It was not a question, but a declaration. He'd hit the nail on the head, immediately guessing correctly her state of mind. There was something very disconcerting about it. She glared at him, putting her hands on her hips.

"And... now you're annoyed," he said, looking down.

"How did you guess?" she grumbled sarcastically.

"Your face gives you away." He looked back at her and stifled a laugh. "Actually, you look very funny when you are annoyed."

"Don't make fun of me," she snapped.

Ángel flinched, looking hurt, but he backed off. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I didn't meant it like your classmates."

"M-my what?"

He winced. "It's nothing," he said, and shut his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I... I'm sorry. Please forgive me for, uh, making assumptions."

"Yeah, well…" She softened then, seeing Ángel's gentle eyes looking down abashedly. It was hard to stay mad at someone so cute. She tried to put it out of mind and keep things academic, since he apparently had a knack for knowing exactly what one was thinking.

"I wanted to ask you about what happened earlier today," she said. "Jin didn't say much and everyone is afraid to ask him and ruin whatever good mood he's in. We haven't seen him this happy in a while." She heard Jin laugh back at the campsite just then and allowed herself to smile.

"Is that bad?"

Amanda cocked her head to one side, unsure of how to answer the question. "Well… no. No, of course it isn't _bad._ It's just… weird. Y'know. For him to be happy."

"I see. You think I did something to him."

"I don't know if you really _did_ something to him either, it's just that—" she struggled to find the words. She had the feeling that this was one of those times when she could inadvertently hurt his feelings if she wasn't careful about what to say. Mimi wouldn't have had this problem, of course. Mimi's sincerity was pure in part because she was oblivious to what went on around her. (Earlier, for instance, she had thanked Jin and Ángel, saying, "It's a really good thing you two showed up when you did, especially after you ran off like that," with a warm smile on her face. She had been so sweet about it that no one had even noticed how rude her choice of words was.)

Ángel looked at her expectantly.

"Okay, everyone knows you're… 'different.' When we first met you, you'd been waiting for us. You just read me like an open book a minute ago. And Jin's a completely different person now because of the time you spent with him. I want to know two things: how do you do what you do and what did you say to Jin?"

Ángel nodded. Thankfully, he didn't look offended at all. "Well, first of all, I can do what I do because it is who I am," he replied.

"Huh?"

"And all I said to Jin is that he is not the bad person he thinks he is. He needs to discover his true potential for good. I reminded him of his own heart. He still must find his own way, but I think he will show his true colors very soon. I have faith in him."

Amanda shrugged. "That's just like you," she sighed. "I talk to you and you end up making me more confused than I was in the first place."

She turned to go, but Ángel didn't let her leave without some parting words. "If... if you want some advice..." She looked back at him. "You will have to find yourself too," he said. "If you want answers, you must see clearly. Just ask your partner."

Amanda frowned at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I-it's nothing, it's just some advice."

Amanda watched him as he turned and went back to where Jin was finishing his supper. Fuming, she went to her sleeping bag, too angry to do much else.

She noticed Penguinmon nearby. The squat little bird was fumbling with a toothbrush, trying his best to clean his beak. She had to smile at the sight.

"What are you doing?" she giggled.

"I'n tying to bush my beak," he replied, trying to look dignified.

"You don't have teeth and I'm sure Muchomon was just kidding when he said you had fish breath earlier."

Penguinmon spat and held the small brush clumsily between his two flippers. "Yeah, well, better safe than sorry."

"I understand, but you look ridiculous with that— Penguinmon is... is that _my_ toothbrush?"

Penguinmon looked from the toothbrush to his partner. "It is if you still want it," he said, offering it to her.

"Ewww, no!" she said. "I'll borrow one of Mimi's spares tomorrow."

Feeling very tired, she flopped down on the sleeping bag and looked off at the others as they sat nearby, their figures mere silhouettes against the bright orange glow of their campfire.

"Did you and Muchomon talk about he and Scarmon's digivolution today?" she asked.

Penguinmon shrugged. "Yeah, but that bird is just plain weird. He just said that he and Scarmon were the same when they digivolved together, so anything he told me would be half the story. I asked Scarmon and he started talking all weird."

"Weird? What do you mean?"

"I'm getting to that. I stopped him and asked him what he was saying and he told me that he'd been speaking Spanish."

Amanda sat up. "Scarmon doesn't know any Spanish."

"He does now."

Amanda was impressed. "So, when he fused with Muchomon, he retained Muchomon's memories?"

"I... guess? I had no idea how it worked and neither one of them are very talkative about it."

"Interesting." Penguinmon noticed the "academic" look in her eyes and knew that she wasn't going to be happy until she got some answers about how this all worked. As excited and agitated as she was, however, it would have to wait until morning. For now, they needed to get some sleep.

* * *

Amanda awoke to the sound of humming. It was high and soft and she stirred awake to it's sound. "Mama," she murmured.

"Did you say something Amanda?" Penguinmon asked, waking up next to her.

It was then that she realized where she was. She sat up and looked around. It was not her mother's voice she's heard, but Mimi's. The elder girl was getting a towel from her luggage and a clean pair of clothes. Clad in her pink robe and wearing some sandals, she looked ready for a bath.

"Oh," she said simply. She felt a pang of homesickness then, her first since she left. She missed hearing her mother's humming. It was off key at times, and sometimes the songs she chose annoyed her, but it was something she'd grown used to and it was only now that she realized how much she missed it.

"Did I wake you up, Amanda?" Mimi asked, pausing when she saw her sad expression. "Do you want me to stop humming?"

Amanda smiled, putting her gloomy thoughts out of mind. "No, that's okay. I like your humming. Go ahead."

Mimi nodded and continued, getting her things before walking towards the woods, Palmon close behind.

"Oh, I forgot to mention that we found a lake nearby. It's shaped like a horseshoe, so the boys and girls can have different beaches to take a bath at. If you want, I can wait a minute and we can go together."

Amanda made a face. "A… a bath? The two of us, together?"

"Sure, why not?"

Michael, who was slicing some fruit for breakfast sided with Amanda. "I don't know, that is a little weird."

Mimi just laughed. "You Americans-"

_"-Westerners," _Amanda growled.

"Oh, right, I'm sorry. But it's silly! You know, if you ever go to Japan, Amanda, you should try a bathhouse or a hotspring. After all, we're both girls, so there's nothing we haven't seen before anyway!"

"Well, that's... okay, if I ever do go to Japan, _maybe._ But for now, I'll take my privacy," Amanda replied.

"All right," Mimi said, giving up and walking away. "I'll take my bath alone and Michael can wait for Jin to get back."

Amanda blinked several times, an idea taking hold in her brain. When Mimi had gone, she turned to Michael. "So, Jin's taking his bath alone right now?"

"Yes. Ángel's still asleep and Jin wanted to get a head start, so he's there now. I'm with you, though, bathing together is... Amanda?"

Amanda was quite obviously not listening. She looked into the woods in the opposite direction of where Mimi had gone. A sly grin spread across her face.

"Come on, Penguinmon!" she said, grabbing her partner out of bed and running off.

"Hey, that's the wrong way!" Betamon called futilely after her. "Michael, do you think we should try to stop her?"

Michael smirked at him. "She's the one taking the risk. I just hope Jin doesn't kill the little pervert."

* * *

Amanda made her way quickly, but stealthily, through the woods, dragging Penguinmon behind her.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, pulling himself free of her grasp.

"I'm going on a nature walk and I think we're on the trail of some _wildlife,"_ she replied, giving him a wink.

"Count me out," he grumbled, walking away. "You can go boy-watching by yourself."

"Oh no you don't!" she said, snatching him up. "I need you to be lookout. And keep quiet!"

Amanda finally came near the beach but found it surrounded by tall bushes. Thinking she might need a better vantage point she climbed a tree and perched herself on a limb.

"Any sign of Jin or Scarmon?" she asked Penguinmon.

"No," he grumbled. "You're going to regret this, I just know it."

Amanda was about to reply when something burst from the water. She gawked at the sight.

Jin shook the water from his jet-black hair, the water dripping off his body. He looked very relaxed and very at ease. He was also very much in the nude. Holding a bottle of body wash in one hand, he squeezed some out and began lathering himself from his arms to his chest.

"Oh... _wow,"_ Amanda squeaked, her eyes glazing over and her expression dreamy. "I wish I'd brought a camera!"

"You're sick," Penguinmon told her, looking away. "What I want to know is, if Jin's out there, where's Scarmon?"

The pair heard a growl from behind them. "Funny you should mention that," Scarmon snarled as he leaped onto their branch.

Amanda and Penguinmon both yelled in surprise and fright, tumbling out of the tree. With all the commotion, Jin whirled around and saw the two of them lying in a heap on the beach.

"Uh… hi there, Jin!" Amanda said, chuckling nervously. "You're looking..." she momentarily looked down, "...healthy."

Jin stared at her in shock before realizing that he was still standing before her without pants. Once he realized that, he turned beet red and ducked beneath the waves.

"You do know that he's going to kill us, right?" Penguinmon asked.

Scarmon dropped from the tree branch. "Actually, _we're_ going to kill you," he laughed. The small, blue bird waddled away as fast as his little webbed feet could take him, Scarmon in hot pursuit.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Amanda hollered.

"You might worry about yourself first, you little perv."

Amanda looked up to see Jin, who was now clad in a towel around his waist. He was still dripping wet, and he had a murderous look in his eyes.

"Um… it was an accident?"

His look darkened.

"O-okay, so maybe I was trying to get a peek, but— urk!" She was cut off as Jin seized her by the shirt. Those same powerful muscles she had marveled at moments ago now lifted her into the air, bringing her face to his. She could hear his breath as it came in short puffs, snorting like a bull, his fury barely contained. Whatever mellowness he'd had the previous evening was totally gone.

"I'm sorry!" she whimpered, now genuinely afraid.

At first, her apology seemed to fall on deaf ears. Then, however, his eyes softened and his grimace fell away. He dropped her roughly and turned to gather up his clothes from the rock where he'd placed them. "Stay there," he commanded her.

The sternness of his voice told her that it would be unwise to disobey him. She waited, sitting in the sand as Jin dried and dressed himself in the bushes nearby. She didn't dare turn to peek this time. When he emerged, he seemed to have calmed down enough for her to be at ease.

"I get the feeling that you're not really sorry," Jin said. "But I don't think it matters. I don't really want to hurt you anyway." He paused for a moment, then asked, "Why did you do that?"

Amanda blushed. "Um… well, you know."

"No, not really."

"Well, because..." she began. _Because you're a totally hot, older Asian guy I've wanted to see naked since the day we met,_ she thought.

He looked at her expectantly. "Well?"

"I was just playing around," she laughed, playing it as a joke.

"Yeah, well, find someone else to play around with," he grumbled.

"What's the big deal?" she asked, crossing her arms, not sure why he was so upset. Her confidence returned and she felt like somehow she had regained the upper hand. "You're acting like you're the younger one here. Haven't you ever been teased like that before?"

"No."

"What, not even on a date?"

Jin reddened slightly. Amanda slowly got the picture and her eyes went wide.

"You've... never had a date? _You?"_

"Of course not!" he yelled. "When you spend most of your teen years trapped in the Digital World and then another one in an all male juvenile hall, you don't meet many girls!" After this sudden outburst, he sat down on a nearby log, his mood turning somber.

"I mean, think about how pathetic that is," he went on. "I'm almost seventeen and I've never even kissed a girl."

Amanda might have taken this revelation as a sign that she should be serious. She might have heard this outpouring and tried to comfort him. She might have… if she wasn't the person that she was. Instead, she got another one of those ideas that Penguinmon would have tried to talk her out of, were he not busy running from Scarmon.

Jin was looking contemplatively out at the lake when Amanda tapped him on the shoulder. He turned only to have her move forward, suddenly pressing her lips to his. Her eyes were closed as she enjoyed the momentary kiss. His eyes were wide open, unable to believe what had just happened.

"Stop that!" he shouted, pushing her away, getting up to leave. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Amanda just giggled, not put off by his reaction in the slightest. "There. Now you've kissed a girl. And you can say that I was your first."

He made a face as he turned red again. "I'm not counting that as my first kiss! Not with you!"

"Well, I'm counting you as mine!"

"You're a nutcase," he said, shaking his head exasperatedly. "Scarmon, we're leaving!"

Scarmon scampered out of the bushes, some blue feathers clenched between his teeth. "I almost had him, Jin! He got in the water and I couldn't keep up, but I got some of his tail feathers, though!"

"Leave Penguinmon alone, his partner's the problem," Jin told him as he walked away. Then almost as an afterthought, he turned back to Amanda. "You know, it's this kind of stuff that makes you the fifth wheel in this team!"

Amanda stared after him, that last comment hitting home. "Yeah? Well… at least I'll have had a date before I'm seventeen!" she shouted after him.

"Don't bet on it!" he shot back.

Now almost ready to explode, she stood there on the beach, her fingers curling and uncurling into fists, gritting her teeth at the nerve of the boy. Behind her, Penguinmon splashed onto the shore, gasping for air.

"C-can you believe that boy?" Amanda screamed. "I mean, who does he think he is?"

"Thanks, I'm fine," Penguinmon grumbled. "I told you that was a bad idea. Look at my tail, for crying out loud! Do you know how long it takes for tail feathers to grow back?"

* * *

Jin and Amanda chose not to discuss the events of that morning, even though Michael pressed for details and it was obvious that Jin was now in another funk. The band of ten continued on their way across Folder when they came across something very out of the ordinary.

In the midst of the jungle, they discovered a sizable purple dome. It seemed to be made of metal and it had ornate lines that encircled it that looked to be made of brass. There was an arching, gothic door on the front of it, though it seemed to be without a doorknob. It was the size of a small house and it stood alone, no other buildings nearby it, and it was completely without windows.

"What is it?" Michael asked.

"I'm not sure," Jin admitted. "I've never seen a building like this before. I guess someone could live here."

"I don't think so," Amanda interjected. "It's way too flashy to be a normal dwelling. No windows, no sign of activity outside it… it could be a shrine or something. Maybe even a mausoleum— oh, wait, digimon don't leave anything to bury. Maybe it's—"

"Oh, can we just stop talking about it and see what's inside already?" Mimi cried, stepping forward.

"Mimi, be careful!" Michael warned.

"Relax, I'm just going to take a peek!" she said with a laugh.

"Peeks can get you into trouble," Jin grumbled.

Mimi paid no heed and walked right up to the door. There was no doorknob, but there was a small, circular button on the front of it. Mimi pushed it in and a small panel on the door slid open. A metallic camera resembling an eye emerged and looked right at Mimi.

"Um... hi!" Mimi greeted it cheerfully.

_"State your business,"_ an electronic voice said.

"Well, we don't really have any business," Mimi replied, confused by the question. "You see, we're the Digidestined and we were just walking through the jungle—"

_"The Digidestined?"_ the voice asked. _"Excellent! We heard you were on Folder, so please come! You are welcome to visit and stay as long as you like!"_

There was a hiss of hydraulics as the door swiftly slid open. They all looked to each other, then, seeing no harm, they entered the dome. The interior was empty, but, once they were all inside, two halves of a giant steel cage came up around both sides, following the curve of the dome to close around them.

"It's a trap!" Jin exclaimed.

_"Don't be alarmed, sir,"_ the voice reassured him. _"It's just the security cage. It will insure that you don't fall during the ride, so you can enjoy the view in complete safety!"_

It was then that the outer dome opened wide, letting in daylight through the crisscrossing bars of the cage. There was a short pause, then they each heard a low, rumbling hum coming from beneath them. It gradually increased in pitch and they could feel a vibration coming through the floor, as if some engine below them were powering up. In fact, that turned out to be the case as the entire structure slowly levitated, rising into the air, hovering momentarily before it began to climb through the air.

"Wow!" Mimi exclaimed. "Look how high we're going! It's like a ride at the fair!"

"I always hated those rides," Amanda said, her voice shaking.

"Amanda?" Ángel asked. "What is it? Are you all right?"

"Y-yes, but I… I…" she started to look very pale as she looked out the cage at the ground which was falling away more and more as she spoke. She felt a sudden heave in her stomach and fell to her knees, covering her hand with her mouth and shutting her eyes.

"Amanda!" Michael cried, going to her side. "What's wrong?"

"I can tell you," Penguinmon said, also looking uneasy. "She's… we're both afraid of heights."

"A bird afraid of heights?" Muchomon laughed, fluttering above him. "Now I've heard everything!"

"One of these days I'm going to get you in the water and shut that yapping beak of yours!" Penguinmon groaned. "In the meantime, someone see if this thing has an airsick bag!"

Regardless of Amanda and Penguinmon's nausea, the trip went on as they travelled further and further upward, the rest of them looking out at the whole of the continent with amazement. "Wow!" Mimi exclaimed. "Just look at everything! There's a town on the other side of the island, and there's a big house at the top of the mountain! This will make it a lot easier to know where we're going!"

Finally, they burst through the clouds, high above the island. The structure went up through a small ring, which appeared to be a kind of dock for the transporter and locked into place.

_"Welcome to Sky City, esteemed visitors!"_ the voice said as the cage opened.

"Oh, my…" Mimi gasped.

She had good reason to be impressed. Before them stretched an enormous city. It was made up of over a hundred buildings, each one set apart from the others, but all interconnected by a network of walkways protected by tall guardrails. They had a similar appearance to the transporter dome, made from the same purple, metallic substance and the same brass designs adorning them. Some looked like small houses, others were like giant pagodas. Beneath each of them were glowing panels where the hover jets kept the whole civilization suspended in the air.

"Sky City," Jin said, marvelling at the sight. It was spectacular to see something so large and so ornate floating in the air as if were nothing more than a cloud. "I always heard about Sky City, but not a lot of people find it, and not everyone is allowed here."

"Really? How come?" Mimi asked.

"It's sort of like a commune," he said. "You know, where a bunch of digimon get together and build their own society apart from the rest of the Digital World. They decided the best way to keep it private was to keep it in the air. They get a lot of money and goods through tourism, but they're exclusive. They're supposed to have great casinos and fine dining here."

"Please don't mention food," Amanda whined, not budging from the transporter.

"Come on, Amanda," Mimi called. "Let's take a look around!"

"Forget it," she said. "I'm going to wait on the ground."

"Well, if you think that's best," Michael said.

"No, she has to come with us," Jin grumbled, helping her to stand. "It's not safe for her to wait alone. One of the Eight Gods could come along and catch her off guard."

Amanda squeezed her eyes shut, holding onto Jin's arm, her knees wobbly. She, in turn, carried Penguinmon under one arm, his flippers over his eyes.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"You can thank me by not puking on me," Jin told her, helping her to get across the walkway. Whispering, he added, "You really owe me after this, you brat."

A welcoming party was there to greet them. They were very happy to see that they had such distinguished guests as Digidestined that they escorted them to a private room not far from one of their finest restaurants and casinos. Like most Sky City architecture, their room was a round, dome-shaped building. The inside had a large window that offered a great view of the city as well as the clouds and the continent below.

Amanda and Penguinmon were finally persuaded to open their eyes. Trying to adjust to their persistent case of vertigo, they sat looking out the window in hopes of desensitizing themselves. The rest of them admired the room.

Michael seemed impressed with the furniture. "Mimi, try out this sofa!" he said, patting the spot next to him.

Mimi complied and took a seat. "Ooh, it's soft!" she squealed, reclining on it. Michael leaned back next to her, practically tingling at their proximity.

"Hey, you guys, you've got to try this!"

Jin agreed and came over, flopping himself down so hard it bounced both Mimi and Michael in the air. "Heyyy, this is nice!"

Ángel also found it extremely comfortable. "Amanda, you should have a seat, too," Ángel suggested, mimicking Michael and patting the spot next to him. "You look very tense. You should relax."

"I would, but I'd have to stand up," she said from her spot on the floor. "And right now I'm too nauseous to risk it."

"Pardon me," someone said, entering the room, "but your lunch is ready."

They turned to see a small Pagumon sitting in the doorway.

"Hey, they even deliver lunch to the door!" Scarmon exclaimed, licking his chops at the sight of the smaller digimon.

"I think he's just the messenger, not the main course," Jin said.

"Uh, that's correct, sir," the Pagumon said, eyeing Scarmon warily. "If you will all come with me, I'll take you to the Five Star Casino, where we have a splendid all-you-can-eat buffet ready for you. All free of charge for such honored guests, of course."

"'All you can eat?'" Muchomon asked. "Ángel, we've found Heaven! And it's a casino!"

"We don't know how long we'll be able to stay, but hey can't turn down a free meal," Jin said. "We better take our things with us anyway."

"Come on, Amanda, let's eat!" Mimi said, urging her to come along.

"_Hurk!_ No thanks, I'm not hungry," she grumbled. "I hope you don't mind if I don't—"

"Oh, okay!" she said, leaving with the rest of them.

Amanda sat there, suddenly speechless at her desertion.

"Penguinmon, I think we've just been ditched." She sighed. "Naturally."

"Aw, Amanda, I-"

"Oh god, wait... move!" she ran to the window, popped it open, and stuck her head out, her nausea finally overtaking her.

"Eugh," Penguinmon said, making a face. "Well, let's hope there's nobody below us."

* * *

"Wow, this is pretty nice," Michael remarked.

_"Gracias a la Virgen,"_ Ángel agreed, his eyes wide.

Jin had to admit that the place was indeed impressive. The inside of the casino wasn't gaudy or loud or anything like he would have expected. The metal domed building had a mostly wood interior with chandeliers and red, plush carpeting. At the very top of the dome was a large skylight. Beautiful paintings of pristine landscapes from around the Digital World were hung on the walls. Crowds of digimon milled about roulette and card tables. And at the far side of the large building was the dining area where there was a table nearly overflowing with all kinds of food.

"Chow time!" Scarmon cried gleefully, charging forward, the rest of the group right behind him.

Ángel and Muchomon, who had never seen such exotic food in their lives, were the most eager to begin, but the least sure of what they wanted.

"Michael, what is this?" Ángel asked.

"That's caviar."

"And this?"

"Quiche."

"And what about this?"

"Ángel, will you stop worrying about it and eat!" Jin laughed. "Besides, what makes you sure the preppie will know what it is and the rest of us won't?"

"All right, Jin, what is this?" Michael asked, holding a dish up.

Jin stared at it for a minute. "I have no idea."

"That's escargot," Michael told them confidently.

"Just don't add salt!" a new voice added.

The four children and digimon looked up to see who spoke and saw a strange digimon approaching.

"Isn't that a Starmon?" Mimi asked.

"Please," the stranger scoffed. "I'm not just your run-of-the-mill Starmon. The name is _Super_Starmon."

SuperStarmon stood out from the crowd. He had the same body shape as a Starmon and was roughly the same size, with a five-pointed star for a body and a pair each of slender arms and legs. However, his body was a brilliant, shining gold and his arms and legs were adorned with white, sequined cloth, punctuated by red stripes. He also wore cowboy-style gloves and boots, gold studs on his knuckles. The whole look was topped off with a sleek pair of sunglasses worn over his eyes. He looked like a true "rhinestone cowboy," at home in a Las Vegas show. In fact, his somewhat tacky appearance seemed out of place with the casino.

"Well, are you enjoying the food?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm," the Jin and Ángel said, stuffing their faces greedily.

"Yes, thank you," Michael and Mimi said, nodding politely.

"Well, glad to hear it. When I heard that Digidestined were coming to Sky City, I knew I had to invite you to my casino."

"Oh, this is your place?" Mimi asked. "It's really nice."

"Thanks, babe," he said, crossing his arms confidently. "I just picked it up recently. Bought the place and now I'm going to turn it into the main attraction here in Sky City. How could it not be when the owner is a star like me?"

Jin removed a leg of Peking duck from his mouth at that. "Hey, yeah," he said, pausing to swallow. "I think I heard of you years ago. A long time ago, too."

"Yeah, well, I am a very famous—"

"Something about you being one of the biggest movie stars in the Digital World, but then something happened."

"I, uh, think that's enough for now," he grumbled.

"Something about you giving money to someone," Jin went on, obliviously. "It was some creep named—"

"Hey, who wants desert!" SuperStarmon shouted, his fists shaking.

"—Etemon!" Jin finished, remembering, standing up straight.

Mimi dropped her fork with a loud clatter and stood up as well. "You helped Etemon?" she cried in disbelief.

SuperStarmon tapped his foot. "Well, it just goes to show you," he sighed. "You give and you give to your fans, then you make one mistake and everyone jumps down your throat. I feel just like Robert Downey, Jr."

"Well, I'm sorry," Mimi apologized. "It's just that Etemon tried to hurt me and my friends years ago and—"

"Oh no, don't bother to apologize!" SuperStarmon yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "Everyone else thinks I'm rotten, why should you think anything different? Sure, I lent money to Etemon and he used it to build the Dark Network that he wired the entire desert of Server with. And yeah, I couldn't get hired for any other movies anywhere in the Digital World. What was I supposed to do? I'm not meant to be poor! I needed some cash quick. So I gave up the glamorous life and turned to crime and joined the Eight Gods."

"He's with the Eight Gods?" Ángel exclaimed.

"Let's get him!" Betamon hollered, rallying the other digimon as they leapt onto the table, ready to digivolve.

SuperStarmon didn't wait for them to make their next move. He charged forward with surprising speed, grabbed the end of the table, then leapt into the air, flipping the table upside down, spilling the food and pinning the four small digimon underneath it.

"I did all my own stunts in the old days, kids," he said, lifting up the table to reveal the four digimon, dazed and barely able to see straight, let alone stand and fight.

"I was going to let you finish your last meal and then finish you off when you were stuffed and vulnerable, but this will work too. Guards!"

The skylight was shattered as the guards crashed through it, others emerging from doors all around the building. Several Flymon floated in the air menacingly, while Mekanorimon surrounded them, their Twin Beams fully charged and ready to fire. The regular patrons of the casino were hurried out of the building.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you kids, but I've got my orders and a nice new casino to run. When you get to hell, tell 'em SuperStarmon sent you!"

The four of them looked to each other helplessly as the guards advanced on them. SuperStarmon had ambushed them and had his own security force ready to finish them off. It looked hopeless until Michael abruptly shouted, "Couldn't we make a deal?"

SuperStarmon just laughed. "What could you have that I want?"

"I… I could make you movie star again!"

SuperStarmon froze. "Whoa, hold on," he told the guards. "You could make me famous again?"

Michael nodded.

"You've got one minute to explain, kid."

"My father is a movie star on Earth. If you let us go, I could talk to him and get you a part in a movie."

"How do I know you're not lying?"

Michael reached slowly into his bag and removed his wallet. He took out a picture he carried of his family standing in front of a movie poster that clearly showed his father. He smiled to himself, noting the goofy poses that he, his father, and his mother had all assumed.

"A movie poster... yeah... hmmm..." It was an interesting idea: the first digimon movie star on Earth. Well, it wasn't quite what he had in mind, but it had been ages since he had a mansion or a swimming pool he could call his own. He was sick of being in a gang anyway and their new "boss" couldn't possibly come after him if he just left the Digital World.

"Okay, kid, let's talk business," he said, cracking his knuckles. "But not here. I'm taking you to my office where we can talk in private. Your friends are coming along for the ride, too." He stepped forward menacingly. "And if we can't come up with a deal, they'll pay for it."

* * *

Amanda looked out the window gloomily. She had finally overcome her vertigo (and brushed her teeth after her little "incident"), and Penguinmon was beginning to relax as well. Now the two were quiet.

"You know, this is just like school," she said, pouting.

"What do you mean?"

"I try my best, but somehow I always end up being the odd one out. Even when I'm helping to save the world, I get treated like a dork!"

"No one's treating you like a dork," Penguinmon said. "Everyone likes you."

"Are you sure? Maybe they just put up with me because they need our help."

"That's not true!" he denied vehemently.

"Yes it is!" she exclaimed, just as forcefully. "Ángel treats me like a kid. He was making fun of me last night when he wouldn't give me a straight answer; he didn't want to talk to me. And Jin hates me, too. So I peeked on him, he didn't have to be so mean! He's right, though. I am the fifth wheel: the odd, useless one. And Michael never talks to me, he spends all of his time with Mimi and Mimi… well, you heard her. She didn't even try to get me to come with them. They were glad to be without me."

Penguinmon looked up and saw that her bottom lip was quivering. She looked ready to cry, though she was holding it in. It pained him to see her like this more than she knew. "This was supposed to be an adventure, but it's just more of the same."

"Amanda… I—"

"Huh?" she interrupted, pressing her face closer to the window. "What are they... oh my god! Penguinmon, do you see what I see?"

Penguinmon looked and saw that, not far off, the other eight members of their party were all being marched along a walkway. They had their hands in the air and were being guarded by a large number of very aggressive-looking digimon. She noticed a flashy looking digimon leading them and got out her analyzer. "That's SuperStarmon," she said. "He's an Ultimate. Do you think he's one of the Eight Gods?"

"Even if he isn't, he's captured the others. Let's go!" He rushed towards the door, ready for action.

"Wait!" she cried. "We can't do this by ourselves! Let's get some help. I'll call someone—"

"They were ambushed in the casino," Penguinmon said. "They were lured in there. SuperStarmon probably set the whole thing up as a trap, which means that he had the casino employees helping him out. Who knows, maybe he has all of Sky City on his side. We can't take the risk."

"But what are we supposed to do?" she demanded.

"What else? Save them! Now let's hurry!"

"But I can't!" she said. "I just got used to the heights out our window. I can't go out there!"

Penguinmon took deep breath. "All right, Amanda, as your partner, I hate to be tough on you, but we don't have time to mess around. So listen: if you don't go out there, then Jin will be right about you being a fifth wheel. A fifth wheel is useless on a car and if you can't be counted on to help, then that makes you useless to the team as a Digidestined. I can't digivolve without you and I can't leave you here unprotected anyway, so refusing to help is the same as getting all of us killed."

She looked down, suddenly feeling very guilty.

"If you're going to prove that you really _are_ important, then you'll just have to toughen up and come with me!"

Amanda took a deep breath, then offered a tiny smile. "Okay," she agreed, gathering up her pack as well. "It's a good thing Jin told them to take the supplies. It doesn't look like we'll be staying here anymore." She steadied her nerves and stepped outside.

Her stomach heaved at the sight and her knees went wobbly. "Penguinmon, I... I don't know if I can do this."

"N-neither do I," he said, looking at the clouds far below. "But let's try not to think about it and catch up before we lose them."

Amanda nodded and led the way, bracing herself along the walkway, grabbing the rails with each step and avoiding looking any further than right in front of her feet. She glanced over the side and nearly collapsed from dizziness when she realized that she couldn't even see the ground. She had a sudden mental image of herself losing her balance, tumbling over the rail, and plunging down, down, down…

"Amanda, keep going!" Penguinmon cried urgently, crawling forward on his belly.

The two made their way down the network of walkways, slowly making their way around to trail their friends and the guards holding them captive. Eventually the path led them to what appeared to be a train station.

"They must be taking them somewhere else. I wonder why."

"Maybe they want to know where we are," Penguinmon suggested.

"I don't think so," she said. "They would have sent guards to get us as soon as they left to make sure. Must be an oversight. I guess the others didn't tell them about us." She mulled that over. She wondered if it meant that they really were counting on her to rescue them. Despite the dire situation, it made her smile.

In any case, she needed a plan. There were too many guards and there was no way Frigimon would be able to handle them alone. The train ran along a single, broad rail. She guessed that it was a maglev, a train that used electromagnetism to propel it along the track, making it move faster than a normal train. The Bullet Train in Japan worked similarly, except that the Bullet Train's tracks weren't suspended in midair, thousands of feet above ground.

"If we don't get on that train, we might lose them," she said. "But it looks like they're posting guards everywhere. I don't see how we can get on."

"I've got a plan," Penguinmon said, looking ahead of the station, "but you're going to hate it."

* * *

"Did you put them on tight enough?" SuperStarmon asked one of the guards.

"Yes, sir. They won't be able to slip out of them."

"Excellent." He turned his attention to the four Digidestined who were now bound to their partners, back to back, with large, metal restraining straps. Their arms were held to their sides and their partners were pressed so tightly against them that they could hardly breathe. In the digimon's case, extra restraints were put over Scarmon's and Muchomon's mouths and cuffs were placed over Palmon's hands, so none of them could use their special attacks. "Comfortable?" SuperStarmon asked.

"I thought you and I were going to work out a deal," Michael said.

"We are, but I'm not taking any risks," he replied. "Those straps are next to impossible to break for a Rookie. The only way to break them is for the digimon to digivolve and become large enough to break them. Of course, those straps are so tight, doing so would crush your partners. So everyone stays put and no one tries anything funny. Got it?"

The four digimon nodded bitterly.

"Great," he said. "Enjoy the ride, kids. Sorry, but there's not enough room in first class, so you'll have to take the cheap seats. Guards?"

On his order several Mekanorimon stepped forward, grabbed the prisoners and threw them roughly into an armored boxcar, shutting the door behind them.

"This sucks," Jin grumbled. "What kind of a plan is this, anyway, Washington?"

"I'm just trying to buy us some time while we figure out a way out of this!" Michael cried defensively.

"What happens when he finds out that your dad can't get him a part?" he asked.

"Hopefully, we'll figure out something by then. Maybe you guys can get free while I'm talking with SuperStarmon. I'll just take as long as I can without making him suspicious."

"Hey, I just thought of something," Mimi said. "Amanda will come looking for us soon. She can help us!"

"If she hasn't been caught already," Jin grumbled. "Or isn't too busy trying to keep breakfast down."

"You should not make fun of her," Ángel said. "She is a Digidestined and she can do this by herself. I believe in her."

"Good for you. I'll believe it when I see it."

* * *

"Penguinmon I'm going to kill you!" Amanda shrieked.

"It works in the movies!" he protested.

"They usually miss in cartoons!"

Actually, Amanda would have been the first to admit that Penguinmon had a good plan. The only problem was that _they_ were the ones that had to follow it. Ahead of the station there was a small, arching bridge that went from one side of the tracks to the other. The train would pass underneath and it was Penguinmon's suggestion that they jump from the bridge and ride _on top_ of it. Of course, that only worked if they could keep from falling off or even manage to work up the nerve to make the jump.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…"

"Relax!" Penguinmon yelled. "Take a deep breath and relax! We can do this! This will work! Everything is okay! Nothing to worry about!"

"Stop yelling at me!"

"I'M NOT YELLING!"

Behind them, the train slowly began to move along the tracks. After the length of it cleared the bridge, it would pick up speed and be impossible to catch.

"Okay, here it comes!" Penguinmon shouted.

Just then, an updraft blew past them, tossing her black hair up into her face.

"I can't!" she whimpered, tears forming in her eyes, breathing rapidly in short, terrified gasps. "I can't do this!"

"Sure we can!" Penguinmon assured, not sounding confident himself. "Just think of the others! Okay, here comes the train. On three!"

The engine went below them. The train wasn't long, so they had only had about thirty seconds to get on.

"One… two… three!"

The two of them were still clutching the rail of the bridge.

"You didn't jump," Amanda said.

"Neither did you! Okay, once more, on three!"

"Fine."

Penguinmon took a deep breath.

_"Three!"_ he said, pushing her off the rail. With a shout and flailing arms, she landed on the train, grabbing onto one of the hatches on top and hanging on for dear life. Penguinmon followed suit and leapt down after her, holding on as best he could, even as the wind increased when the train picked up speed.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" she screeched, looking back at him. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

"That we only had a few seconds to go and then we'd be too late!" he shot back.

"Fine, but if I lose my grip and start slipping off this train, I'm grabbing onto you for support!"

Penguinmon risked a glance over the side. If they did lose their grip, she would have plenty of time to yell at him on their way down before they finally hit. He gripped the train even tighter.

* * *

When the train slowed and finally stopped, the door slid open and SuperStarmon walked in. "We're here," he said. He held a small device in one hand. It was connected to a wire, which he hooked up to Michael and Betamon's restraint. He pressed a few buttons and the restraint came loose and fell off.

"Okay, Betamon, let's go," Michael said.

"Oh, sorry, but he's not going anywhere," SuperStarmon said, seizing Betamon and putting the restraint on him. He tightened it around the little creature as much as he could, drawing a plaintive cry of pain from Betamon.

"Stop, you're hurting him!" Michael exclaimed, reaching for him.

"And I'll hurt him even more," SuperStarmon growled, "if you make this difficult."

Michael stopped in his tracks, reluctantly complying.

"That's better," he chuckled. "Just relax, kid. I'm having the guards take them someplace safe. You and I are going to talk in my office."

* * *

Unbeknownst to SuperStarmon or the other Digidestined, Amanda and Penguinmon slid off the top of the train and snuck away into a good hiding spot not far off. When they were safe, Amanda finally let off some steam, though not exactly as Penguinmon had expected.

"Woo hoo!" she cried. "We made it! That was great!"

"Yeah, I guess so," Penguinmon agreed. "Now, we just need to—"

"Wow, just wait until we tell the others that we rode on top of that train! I feel like an action star, or Card Captor Sakura riding on the Windy, or—"

"Will you knock it off and be serious for a minute?" Penguinmon exclaimed.

Amanda looked at him curiously. He seemed to want to say more, but he was holding it back. It was then that something came to mind. It was something that Ángel had said last night: _"If you want answers, you must see clearly. Just ask your partner."_

She wasn't sure what it all meant, but this felt like the time to ask.

"Penguinmon, what are you thinking?"

"It's not important," he said.

"Yes, it is," she insisted. "I know you have something to say but you just don't want to hurt my feelings. Trust me, it might be better if I knew."

Penguinmon scratched his head, unsure where this sudden seriousness came from, but he seemed relieved by it.

"Amanda, it's just that… well, can't you ever be serious?"

"I'm being serious now."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, you treat everything like you're watching it on TV, or you're playing a video game. You were always the most enthusiastic about going on this trip from the day Michael and Mimi came and picked us up from Roxanne. But you never thought about how dangerous it was. Orochimon almost killed us yesterday and you acted like nothing happened. I got hurt and you were worried about me until you found out I was okay, then dropped it. Then you spent all your time talking to the others and never asked if I needed anything, like a bandage, some water, something to eat, or anything like that. And _then_ you let your hormones take over and went chasing after Jin and you never cared that Scarmon, who was looking out for his partner, nearly took a huge bite out of my fanny. That's the problem: you're excited about having an adventure just like you always wanted, but you don't realize that we could get hurt, that _I_ could get hurt. And now our friends need us, but you almost chickened out until I made you come with me. It's like none of this is real, like none of _us_ are real! How do you think that makes me feel? Am I just a pet, or a tool you keep around to fight off evil digimon?"

_"No!"_ she cried emphatically. "Oh, Penguinmon, of course not." She picked up the small bird and hugged him tight, her eyes becoming misty as she did so. "Please don't be angry with me. You're my best friend, I never meant to make you feel like I didn't care. I... I guess this whole thing is just so weird that I started acting like it was just a game or an anime or whatever. I've been a real idiot. I'll try to be totally serious from now on."

"Let's not go overkill," Penguinmon said, patting her on the shoulder. "I _like you_ for being weird. Just... reign it in when death is on the line, okay?"

She sniffled and gave him a smile, setting him down. "Deal."

Penguinmon returned the smile. "After all, we work pretty well with weirdness; I keep you from getting yourself killed and you keep my life from being boring."

"Well, in that case..." she said, noticing an access panel nearby, "let's see if we can make things a little less _boring_ around here."

* * *

"So, what kind of movie did you want to be in?" Michael asked. He and SuperStarmon were sitting in a spacious office with a large picture frame window. SuperStarmon sat behind his desk while Michael sat across from him in a chair. He felt like a talent agent who was working with a client. One who had very little talent but was a legend in his own mind.

"I was thinking of an action movie," SuperStarmon said casually. "I mean, when I was big here in the Digital World, I was as action-packed as they came. You know, some kung fu stuff, some 'save the girl, blow up the bad guy' things. Plus I've got a great attack that makes your average hand grenade look like an M-80, ya dig?"

"Uh-huh."

"Yeah, that was when I made my fortune. And then I blew it by giving Etemon that loan." He grew angry at that. "He said he just wanted it to get his name out there. How was I supposed to know he used it to build the Dark Network and wanted to take over the world? That stupid flea-bitten monkey couldn't just go on a tour, oh noooo... he had to overrun the desert of Server, attack the Digidestined and get me involved! And who takes over a stupid desert anyway? I was smart, I took over something that has tourists with fat wallets! And the little people around here are too chicken to fight back, not that I blame them, so I'm finally getting the star treatment I deserve! Let me tell ya, babe..."

Michael rolled his eyes as SuperStarmon continued on his rant. He hoped that the others would come up with a plan of escape soon. If he had to listen to this much longer, he was going to be the one in need of a rescue.

* * *

_"Attention: There is an attack being launched by a Digidestined in Sector 7-G. All guards report to the area immediately."_

The three Digidestined, who sat in a small cell locked by a steel door and guarded by a small group of SuperStarmon's flunkies, looked up at the electronic voice, which sounded from an intercom. "Amanda?" Mimi asked, uneasily.

"There must have been one more," a guard outside said.

"Should we leave someone to watch the prisoners?"

"You heard the order. Only the boss would be able to give that kind of order and it said that everyone was supposed to go. You want to make him mad?"

"Eh, good point. Let's go!"

"Poor Amanda," Ángel said, hearing them leave.

"She'll never be able to hold off all the guards at once," Jin said grimly.

"Save your pity for those saps," a familiar voice said. No sooner had it spoke, when the door came to life and slid open, letting in daylight and revealing the confident (if somewhat short) figure of their liberator.

"Amanda!" Mimi cried.

"And her trusty sidekick," she chuckled, gesturing towards Penguinmon.

"Holy flightless avian, Bat-otaku!" Penguinmon added, earning an approving grin from Amanda.

Jin was stunned. "How… how did... the alam said you—"

"I used my secret weapon," she said, reaching into her backpack, retrieving something from inside. "This!"

"A… laptop?" Jin stammered, seeing the small device.

"I remembered Izzy telling me how handy his was, so I brought mine when I left home. Now, I used my specialized decryption program - my own design, by the way - to hack into the system from a terminal at the train station, program the Sky City Security mainframe to send out a false alarm, and distract the guards long enough to get us all out of here."

"That's great, but do you think you can get us out of here?" Betamon asked.

_"Bien sûr,"_ she said, running a wire from the laptop to the restrain around him. She typed a few simple commands and the restraint expanded and came loose.

"Wow, that's great!" Betamon exclaimed.

Amanda then went and freed Ángel, Muchomon, Mimi, and Palmon. Then she turned her attention to Jin and Scarmon. "Who's a fifth wheel now?"

"Will you hurry up and get us loose?"

"Of course," she replied with a smirk. "If you say who your first kiss was."

Jin blushed. "Forget it!"

"Oh, gee, it looks like the battery on my computer is running low. I better turn it off until I can recharge it." She looked at him expectantly.

Jin made a face, noticing the others looking back at them questioningly.

"I'm waiiitiiiinggg," she sang.

"Youwere," he mumbled.

"Beg pardon?"

"You were," he hissed, "now set us free, you blackmailing otaku freak!"

"Of course, sweetie," she giggled, letting him go. "Now let's— wait a minute, where's Michael?"

"SuperStarmon has him!" Betamon cried. "We have to help him!"

"Okay, hold on," she said. "SuperStarmon had our supplies taken to a storeroom not far from here." She pointed in the direction of it. "It's unlocked, so you should be able to find it quickly. I'll take Betamon with me and get Michael. The rest of you digivolve and be ready for him."

"Yes ma'am!" Mimi complied, giving her a big smile and a mock salute.

The three humans and digimon went for the storeroom while Amanda and Penguinmon went off with Betamon.

* * *

"…So I bought up the casino and started up a new business, which brings us up to speed," SuperStarmon finished.

Michael was asleep in his seat.

"You little brat!" SuperStarmon roared, knocking him from it. "Nobody ignores me! I was famous once and I'll be famous again, with or without your daddy's help!"

Michael stood uneasily, seeing SuperStarmon glaring at him furiously. Then he looked out the window. "Well, it looks there's already someone who wants your autograph," he said, pointing.

"Ooh, really?" he asked, turning around and coming face to face with Seadramon, who crashed through the window as Michael leapt out of the way.

_"Ice Blast!"_ Seadramon attacked, unleashing the attack on SuperStarmon, who staggered back. The attack did little to actually hurt him, but it did provide the opportunity for Michael to escape, sliding down his partner's back.

"I knew you guys would think of something," Michael said.

"Don't thank us," Seadramon told him. "Thank her."

Michael looked and spied Amanda, Frigimon with her, a confident grin on her face. "Hey, it looks like you got over your fear of heights!"

"I'm too busy to think about it now, but _thanks for mentioning it!" _she said. "I'll vomit like there's no tomorrow later."

"There won't be a 'later' for you little punks," SuperStarmon snarled, leaping from the window. "I'll teach you not to mess with movie star royalty."

"Run!" Amanda cried. The others didn't need to be told twice and ran for safety with the others not far off.

SuperStarmon watched them run and raised his arms, summoning forth his attack. _"Haley Squall!"_ he howled. Above him, a porthole opened in midair. From it, a barrage of miniature comets blasted forth, pounding the area ahead of him, destroying chunks of the guard rails and walkways, and sending the battered foursome sprawling. Amanda herself slid forward on the metallic surface. Though she tried to save herself, she slid right off it and found herself in the air, nothing below her.

She let out a scream of fright and shut her eyes, when she felt a cold, yet reassuring hand grab hers.

"Gotcha!" Frigimon said, hanging halfway over the edge, pulling her up.

"But who has you?" SuperStarmon laughed cruelly, raising his arms again. _"Haley—"_

He was cut off, however, when Quemamon fell upon him, backhanding him with one flaming claw. "You four get out of here, while I keep him busy!" Quemamon commanded. The four complied, leaving one Ultimate to deal with another.

"Man, you are just about the ugliest digimon I have ever seen!" SuperStarmon exclaimed disgustedly.

"Let's see how pretty you are with some third-degree burns," Quemamon shot back. _"Plasma Column!"_

The stream of plasma shot at the smaller foe, who didn't try to avoid it, but pulled his arms and legs into his metallic hull, letting the hot attack hit him directly. When it was over, his limbs emerged and he dusted off his hands nonchalantly. "Nice attack," he said. "But my metallic hull makes me immune to plasma attacks. My organic body is well shielded and, what's more, your pitiful attack isn't even hot enough to make me break a sweat!"

Quemamon roared in anger and punched at him. SuperStarmon jumped high above him, dodging the attack completely, then delivered two quick kicks to Quemamon's head. He then blasted him with another Haley Squall and Quemamon landed in a heap.

"Quemamon, keep him busy and we'll get help!" Amanda called, continuing on her way.

Quemamon nodded and got to his feet.

"Don't kid yourself, babe," SuperStarmon laughed. "You won't live long enough for them to get help."

* * *

The others had gathered up their things and were waiting for the others to get back.

"Where is Quemamon?" Ángel asked.

"He's fighting with SuperStarmon and he's taking a beating," Michael told him. "We have to help him!"

"Right," Jin nodded. "Lilymon's ready and so are Seadramon and Frigimon, so let's just get in there and give him everything we've got."

"That would be a bad idea," Amanda said. "SuperStarmon seems really fast and he's definitely stronger than the last two Ultimates we fought. With the narrow space here in Sky City, a free-for-all might get one of our digimon thrown over the edge."

"Then, what do we do?" Mimi asked hesitantly.

"It might be hard to pull off," she said, attaching her laptop to a nearby security terminal, "but I think I have an idea."

* * *

SuperStarmon stood before a weary Quemamon, confident, but cautious. "You think stars like me spend all their time at wild parties? Action stars get special training and so do members of the Eight Gods. A two-bit punk like you doesn't have what it takes to beat me."

"Maybe," he said, noticing something coming out of the sky behind SuperStarmon, "but you haven't beat me yet."

Out of the blue, Lilymon swooped down and landed a kick to the back of SuperStarmon's head, causing him to fall forward and smash his shades on the floor. He stood up and yelled in surprise and anger as sunlight stabbed into his unprotected eyes. Holding one arm in front of the sudden light, there was a rumble behind him as the locking mechanisms that connected the walkway he stood on disconnected. The walkway rotated out, no longer connecting one building to another, but leading off into thin air.

_The emergency mechanisms for this city are impressive,_ Amanda thought as she manipulated the locks from another access terminal. _Normally this would be used to keep fire or something from spreading from one area to another, but it ought to work for us too._ "Now!" she called to Frigimon and Seadramon, who both rushed at the walkway. Quemamon saw them coming and moved out of the way, leaving SuperStarmon alone on the bridge.

_"Subzero Ice Punch!"_

_"Ice Blast!"_

The two attacks froze the bridge solid, coating it with a slick coat of ice. SuperStarmon rubbed his eyes and saw his situation. "You think I'm clumsy enough to slip?" he laughed, walking forward carefully. "Nice plan, but I'm smarter than your average movie villain."

"Quemamon!" Jin and Ángel called to their partner.

Quemamon reared back, as if to shoot another Plasma Column. SuperStarmon again retracted into his hull.

Quemamon didn't fire, however. Instead, Lilymon had the honor. _"Flower Cannon!"_

The impact of the attack blasted the helpless star backwards, his metallic body skidding and sliding down the walkway. He realized what was happening and popped out of the shell just as he went sailing over the edge. He reached and grabbed hold of the edge of the walkway with one hand and struggled to pull himself off.

"Uh, Frigimon?" Amanda asked, tapping her foot. "Would you mind?"

Frigimon nodded and lifted one foot, stomping on his end of the frozen walkway, snapping the thing off at its base, sending both the walkway and SuperStarmon falling out into nothing but thin air.

_"Nooooooooo!"_ SuperStarmon screamed as he tumbled through the air. He was furious in his last few moments. He was doomed, he knew that now, but he was not the kind of digimon to let himself be defeated without taking one last shot at his victorious opponents.

_"Haley Squall!"_ he shouted one more time.

"I can't believe that worked," Jin was saying.

"Great job, Amanda!" Mimi congratulated her, patting her on the back and raising a triumphant fist in the air.

"Well," Amanda chuckled, "it was nothing, really—"

Her modesty was cut off, however, as the whole area was rocked by a wave of comets from SuperStarmon's attack. They slammed into the hover jets supporting the buildings and tore away more of the nearby walkways. The heavy building sagged and there was the sound of metal as it creaked and groaned. Mimi, Amanda, and their now de-digivolved partners fell back inside one structure while Jin, Ángel, and Michael were tossed in a different direction. Finally, the strain got to be too much and the area snapped free, falling from Sky City and tumbling down to the ground below.

Amanda felt like screaming as she heard the howling wind and felt the sickening drop as she fell and she probably would have screamed had nausea and terror not overcome her. She fainted on the spot.

**To be continued…**

_(Next time: Separation anxiety and in-fighting befall the group as the boys find themselves in a deep pit facing a nasty foe with an explosive temper...)_

_P.S. As always, please leave a **review**! I really appreciate all comments and feedback._


	11. A Tale of Three Knights

**Chapter Ten:**

**A Tale of Three Knights**

_"Abre los ojos,"_ the voice said. "Michael… open your eyes."

With a groan, Michael opened his eyes and rolled off his side and onto his back. He winced, blinking away tears as pain shot through his body.

"He's okay!" he heard Betamon cheer.

"Not so loud, please," he groaned as he got to his feet. Ángel, who had knelt next to him, urging him awake, rose with him and steadied him as he stood. "My head is killing me. What happened, Ángel?"

"We crashed, obviously," Jin answered. Michael looked around and found that they now stood inside one of the small, dome-like structures from Sky City. He remembered now, remembered the awful drop and the feeling of plunging uncontrollably downward, the howling wind and cold terror of thinking he was about to die. He did not, however, remember hitting the ground. He supposed he must have passed out on the way down, or maybe the impact had knocked him out. Whatever the case, he had hit his head in the crash and he felt a large lump there now. Jin stood outside the door, which was now on its side. They must have landed at angle.

"We're lucky to be alive," Jin said. "I'm not sure how we survived the fall."

That was a good point; the fall should have killed them from that altitude. Then Michael vaguely recalled how the fall had seemed somewhat jerky. At the time, all that had mattered was that he was falling. Now he had an idea.

"Maybe it was those hover-things on the bottom of the Sky City structures. They might have slowed us down, even if they couldn't hold us up."

"That makes sense," Ángel agreed, offering Jin a smile. "Maybe that means that the girls will be okay too."

Michael stiffened at the sudden remembrance of the other members of their party. Nearly knocking Ángel down, he scrambled to the lopsided door and climbed out. He scanned the area with panicked eyes and saw that they had landed on a mountainside, rock and piles of dirt everywhere, but no sign of whom he was looking for. Desperate for some sign of her well-being, he called out her name: "Mimi! Mimi, where are you?"

There was no response except his own voice echoing back to him.

He grew more fearful at the lack of a reply and shouted again at the top of his lungs. _"Mimi!_ Mimi, if you can hear me, please—"

"Hey, shut up!" Jin growled. "We already - ow! - we tried that and we couldn't find anyone."

"It won't hurt to try again!" Michael shot back.

"First of all, you're going to give me a headache or scream yourself hoarse if you keep that up and, secondly, you don't need to worry about it because we sent Muchomon to get a bird's eye view of the area. He's flying around right now looking for them, so shut up!"

Michael sighed with relief. "Okay, I'll save my breath."

"Lucky us," Jin commented, rolling his eyes. "I should say 'lucky you,' though. You've got a bump on your head and a skinned arm from the crash. I dislocated my shoulder and probably broke my nose. Or didn't you notice?"

Michael hadn't noticed. He looked down and saw that his shirt had been torn and he had a large scrape on his arm. He examined it tenderly, wincing now that he'd realized his injury. He then looked to Jin and instantly felt guilty about his minor scrape. Jin was clutching his shoulder and had placed a Band-Aid on the bridge of his nose, which only covered up the cut and did little for the fractured bone.

"Figures," Jin grunted. "Why should you notice that anyone else was hurt? After all, you were just howling for Mimi a second ago."

"So?"

"So, what about Amanda? You didn't mention her, only Mimi." He grinned bitterly. "Do you even care if Amanda's okay, or is it only the really gorgeous girls you worry about?"

"Hey!" Michael said, flustered, trying not to blush and doing a lousy job of it. "I… I was going to call for her in a minute, but then you stopped me."

"Yeah, right, whatever," Jin sneered. Michael caught him muttering something about _"baka amerikajin"_ and he was positive he heard the equivalent of "melodramatic" mixed in with it.

"If you have something to say, don't bother whispering it, even if it's in Japanese. Why don't you say it to my face?"

"Oh no," Betamon sighed. "Here we go again."

"I say Jin can still beat him, even with only one working arm!" Scarmon exclaimed.

"Could not!"

"Wanna wager your share of dinner tonight?"

"That's enough!" Ángel said sternly, coming upon them all. "We cannot keep fighting if we are going to find the girls. And everyone needs to eat, Scarmon, in case one of you need to digivolve."

Recognizing good sense when they heard it, the group fell silent, although the two pairs continued scowling at each other. In the sudden quiet, they could now hear the flapping of wings. They all looked up and saw Muchomon descending.

"Muchomon!" Ángel said, pleased to see his partner return safely. "Did you find the girls?"

_"Sí,_ but…"

"Are they okay?" Michael asked. Jin pressed forward, in spite of himself, every bit as eager for an answer.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I saw some smoke coming from the other side of the next mountain. Maybe they crashed there."

"Didn't you check to see if it was them?" Ángel asked.

"It was too far and the wind currents were rough that high up. It was too risky to fly there."

"Then we'll have to walk over there and check it out," Jin said. He turned to begin walking, then grasped his shoulder when the movement reminded him of its dislocation. "But first," he added, gritting his teeth, "who wants to pop my shoulder back into place?"

Ángel and Michael exchanged glances.

"Well… I once saw my father's chiropractor do it when he tried to do a movie stunt and made a mistake, so maybe I could give it a try." He cracked his knuckles in preparation. "Lie down, Jin."

Jin did what he was told, eyeing Michael untrustingly as the younger boy took hold of the offending arm in one hand and braced his hand on his shoulder with the other.

"Ready?" Michael asked.

"Ready."

Jin wasn't sure exactly what happened and Ángel turned away as Michael made his attempt. All that was certain was that there was a sickening pop, Jin's eyes went wide and he then screamed loud enough to be heard for miles.

* * *

After a brief exchange of words following Michael's unskilled attempt at chiropractics, the six of them began the trek from one mountain to another. Once they reached a high enough vantage point, they all saw the smoke, but it seemed to have weakened, which might mean that the fire that caused it wasn't serious, which was good news if it really did come from the girls' crash site.

In the meantime, they had to make it over there, and that wasn't going to be easy. According to Muchomon, both mountainsides were very steep and climbing down one and then up the other would be next to impossible, given their lack of any climbing equipment and the fact than none of them except Muchomon could fly, and it was too risky to let him go on his own. The only realistic way to make it from one to the other, in fact, was through a narrow canyon that connected the two. It wasn't an easy trip either, but it could be done. They would probably make it there by nightfall if they found some clear paths and kept a steady pace. And no one seemed to want to keep a steady pace more than Michael.

"Come on you guys!" he urged them, charging down the hillside and into the canyon. "We need to keep going if we're going to find them soon!"

"I might be able to brace myself against the cliffside a little better," Jin snarled, "if someone hadn't nearly ripped my arm off because he thought he could yank it back into place. Or maybe if someone wasn't such a wimp and could carry some of the bigger packs instead of sticking me with them—"

"Both of you be quiet," Ángel commanded them, an edge in his voice, his normal calmness noticeably lessened. "Michael, if you keep going that fast, you will be too tired to keep going when we have to go back up the other mountain. You are already sweating, so take a break and have some water before you faint. And Jin, you should be happy that we still have our things. We have all the food we will need for a while, and you should not be mad at Michael just because you can carry more. Okay?"

Jin and Michael growled at each other, then reluctantly agreed to their second truce of the day and continued on their way. Ángel gave an exasperated sigh.

They made their way through the canyon, looking with admiration at the high walls surrounding them on both sides. Large pillars of rock dotted the canyon floor, the layers of ancient rock piled on top of each other in bands of colors. The physical beauty of this place wasn't lost on any of them, but something else did manage to bring them out of their silent awe of it.

"What is that smell?" Scarmon demanded, wrinkling his nose and placing his forefeet over his snout. "Hey, frog-boy, did you let one?"

"No!" Betamon exclaimed, offended by accusation. "Maybe it was your partner!"

"Not me," Jin said. Then he caught the scent as well. He became tense and alert at it, looking around cautiously. "Hold on, I recognize that smell. That's sulfur."

Now the others who had avoided the scent joined him in sniffing the air.

"It smells like rotten eggs," Ángel said, making a face.

"I remember that smell when my father and I went on a hike through the volcanic regions of Costa Rica," Michael remarked.

"We don't need your life story, preppy. Just look for where it's coming from. If it's from a geyser, then we need to watch out. Once I almost got boiled alive by one of those things in the badlands of File Island and I don't want to risk it again."

"We don't need your life story-"

"Drop it," Ángel interjected irratably.

"Wait a minute," Scarmon said, his voice intense. "There's someone else here. I can hear him. He's watching us, and I just heard him laugh."

Now very uneasy, the six of them scanned the area and finally found the unseen observer. The other five nearly jumped out of their skin when Muchomon shouted, _"Alla!_ There he is! Up there!"

They cast their eyes upwards and at first, saw nothing. There was only a large pile of rocks at the top of one of the canyon walls, the form silhouetted against the bright midday sun. However, when they stared at it longer, they saw two yellow eyes staring back at them. Once they all noticed it, the form ceased to pretend that it was a mere rock pile. It stood, casting a huge shadow that enveloped them all. It gave a simple hop forward and came down into the canyon with them, the ground shaking as his tremendous form smashed into the ground like a meteor.

"You little worms are nothing!" it laughed, its voice like a cannon. "I could have come down and finished you all off while you were still looking for me! You weaklings can't be the Digidestined! I wanted a good fight, but it looks like killing you will be easier than I thought! Now, prepare yourselves for humiliation, because I'm bringin' the pain, and there's plenty to spare!"

They all looked to each other. No one looked particularly terrified. The creature's booming voice had an ingratiating harshness to it, but he sounded like a professional wrestler wannabe.

Still, they knew that this was someone to take seriously. Even if he was a loud-mouthed bragart, he had the appearance of a one-man army. He was gigantic, at least 40 feet tall, almost as tall as the walls of the canyon themselves. On his legs he wore what looked like army fatigues and combat boots that seemed to barely contain his gargantuan muscles. His upper body was bulky and muscular and covered with strong metal plating. He had fingers that were each almost the size of the Digidestined themselves. His lower jaw was also plated and had huge iron studs protruding from it. He had yellow teeth and glowing eyes to match as they stared out from his dark face. A dark blue wrap worn around his head was inscribed with the letter V. Most noticeable about him was the gigantic structure protruding from his back. With its conical shape and smoking top, it was unmistakable: it was a volcano.

The stench of sulfur was overpowering.

"Who are you?" Betamon asked. "And have you heard of deodorant?"

"You miserable little toad!" he roared in reply. "I am Volcanomon! I am the mightiest of the Eight Gods and I will reduce you to ash! I will kill you and all your friends for your insult! I will crush the breath from your lungs and hurt you so badly you'll be reborn _dizzy_ in Primary Village!"

"Well, if he's one of the Eight Gods," Scarmon said, unperturbed by this little speech, "then let's just digivolve as high as we can and finish him like we did his buddies!"

Volcanomon folded his arms, unconcerned as they all digivolved. He supposed he could have tried to stop them, but he was confident that there was no way they could beat him. Only two others had ever beaten him in a fight and there was no chance that they were that strong.

Quemamon assumed a fighting stance. "You guys had better keep your distance," he told the three children behind him. "There isn't a lot of room in this canyon, so try not to get in our way."

"We'll handle this and then we can get moving," Seadramon agreed.

"You think you can beat me?" Volcanomon cried in disbelief. "I can take anything you've got!"

Quemamon stepped forward. "Then take this! _Scorched Earth!"_

The wall of fire hit Volcanomon full force. His plating protected him from most of the blast, but the gaps in his armor left him somewhat vulnerable and the hot plasma burned him underneath it. He let out a roar of pain and surprise.

"Couldn't handle it?" Quemamon asked. "If you give up and give us some useful information, maybe we won't have to finish you off."

"I'll rip you apart!" he bellowed, ignoring this offer. _"Big Bang Voice!"_

At the shout of his attack, the volcano on his back rumbled and blasted a gigantic cloud of lava, hot ash and rock into the air. Quemamon tried to dodge it, but had no way to avoid the veritable rain of fire that came down. He simply knelt and covered his face to the best of his ability, the burning hot lava scalding his exposed back. Seadramon wasn't so lucky. He simply lacked the speed to react and the lava seared and burned away at his vulnerable serpentine body. Even as Seadramon writhed in pain, screaming as he tried to shake the molten rock off of him, Michael ran forward in a fit of panic to aid his injured partner. It took Ángel and Jin together to restrain him until he calmed down.

"You sorry excuse for a digimon! I'll teach you to insult the ultimate Ultimate!" Volcanomon seized Seadramon's tail and began to lash him like a whip on the ground pitilessly. Again and again he raised him and whipped him headfirst into the canyon floor. Then, as if bored with hurting him that way, he grabbed him by the throat and squeezed him in his oversized fist. "How long do you think I'll have to strangle you until your head pops off? Let's find out!" Volcanomon guffawed.

Quemamon wasn't about to stand by, however. As soon as he mustered the energy to ignore his own injuries, he ran at Volcanomon and leapt into the air, trying to land a flying kick to his back. He landed the kick, but it did little to faze the giant. Quemamon felt like he'd just kicked an unmovable wall and fell lamely to the ground.

"You can't hurt me like that! I'm unstoppable!" Volcanomon laughed. He threw Seadramon savagely to the ground and picked up Quemamon in his place, throwing him against the opposite wall of the canyon. Then he charged forward, clotheslining him with an outstretched arm, bringing him down again. He cracked his massive knuckles as, head lolling, Quemamon wearily got to his feet. However, he was too stunned to react to his approaching foe. Volcanomon simply punched him twice in the face and once in the stomach, making him double over in pain. "You're worthless!" Volcanomon spat. _"Big Bang Tackle!"_

At that, Volcanomon shot forward like a bullet, the speed amazing for such a large creature. He slammed into Quemamon like a freight train, driving him deep into the rock, sending debris everywhere. When Volcanomon stepped back, Scarmon and Muchomon tumbled out onto the ground, both barely conscious, barely breathing.

Volcanomon wasn't finished yet, however. He then took up the two Rookies and held them in one hand like they were toys. "Like I said, worthless. I've seen tissue paper tougher than you!"

_"Ice Blast!"_ Seadramon attacked, summoning the last of his strength. The blast coated his back with ice. Volcanomon didn't even flinch. The volcano on his back rumbled and the ice melted away as smoke billowed out from it. Seadramon realized his mistake immediately. He could feel the heat emanating from the volcano from where he stood.

Volcanomon said nothing this time. He raised one foot high over Seadramon and simply stomped on his head, grinding it into the ground. He lifted it as Seadramon de-digivolved and picked up his third and final victim.

"Don't hurt them!" Michael cried, rushing forward, breaking free of the grasps of the other two. Jin hesitated only a moment, then followed suit and ran for Volcanomon, not caring about the danger, only that his friend was in danger. Ángel was hot on his heels.

"I could grind insects like you into dust," Volcanomon addressed his captives with a laugh. "But instead, I'll send you back to your babysitters." With that, he threw the three digimon at the approaching children, knocking them all backwards from the force of the throw. Volcanomon laughed harder, the contempt in his voice at its peak. "What sort of sorry excuses for heroes are you supposed to be? I'm sorry I've left you alive!" He thought that over a moment. "Well, I might as well take care of that now."

He took one menacing step forward, when he heard the sound of rocks cracking and grinding against each other. He looked confusedly at the spot of impact in the canyon wall where he'd landed his Big Bang Tackle. To his surprise, the wall suddenly gave away and fell outward in an avalanche. He jumped back, out of the way as the avalanche kicked up a large cloud of dust, blocking his view of his victims. Coughing and sputtering, he waited for it to clear.

"Now is our chance!" Ángel cried. "Run for it!"

The other two followed his lead and gathered up their partners and ran back the way they came. Even though they knew they were safe, all of them shivered when they heard Volcanomon's enraged shouting from behind them, swearing that next time he would show no mercy.

* * *

Back on the mountainside, the three of them all collapsed and caught their breath when they were sure they were safe. Once they'd had a moment to recover, however, things quickly turned ugly.

"Well that was just fantastic!" Jin yelled. "We're lucky he didn't just toast us on the spot!" He glared at Michael, who was still catching his breath. "And we could have beat him if it wasn't for your digimon!" he added, pointing a finger at Betamon.

"Hey!" Betamon exclaimed.

"Leave Betamon alone!" Michael said. "I didn't see Quemamon doing any better! And I didn't hear any brilliant ideas coming from you either!"

"Well, maybe if we had more to work with I could have thought of something. Quemamon's a DNA-digivolved Ultimate, so he's as tough as he'll get. Seadramon's just a Champion! Maybe if you toughened up, you'd have figured out how you two can get stronger and start pulling your weight around here, you rich, whiny wuss!"

"I'm getting really tired of listening to your insults, Jin!" Michael straightened himself and walked up to Jin, staring fiercely back at him.

"Stop being a weakling and maybe I'll ease up on you!"

At this, Ángel walked forward. His face was like stone, but his hands were shaking. _"Perdóname,"_ he said.

"Yes?" Michael hissed, glaring at Ángel as well.

Before Michael realized what was happening, he found Ángel's fist planted right in his stomach, the force of the punch knocking the air out of him.

Jin laughed. "I guess we know whose side Ángel's on, right Ánge—_oof!"_

To both their astonishments, Ángel had simply brought his elbow back and jammed it into Jin's abdomen as well. Jin took the hit better than Michael, but even he was clearly in pain and both looked at Ángel with a mixture of confusion and anger. They both wanted an explanation or they might turn on him next. To their surprise, the tranquility they usually saw in his face was absent. In its place was a twisted mask of rage so different from the face they knew that he seemed like a complete stranger to them.

"I cannot watch this any more!" he screamed angrily. "I have seen you two fighting since I met you and I thought that when Jin and I helped Scarmon and Muchomon DNA-digivolve that I'd convinced him not to fight." He looked at Jin. "But you are still fighting with Michael."

"So why," Michael groaned, "did you hit _me?"_

"Because he wouldn't fight you if you didn't pick a lot of the fights!" Ángel shouted, losing his temper. "You insult him even when he's trying to be nice! I had to break up two fights between you earlier and now you almost fought again! You two are on the same team, but you fight so much that even your digimon fight with each other! And now you've gone too far… you are both blaming each other's digimon when they are trying their best to protect us! We won't beat Volcanomon if we're fighting each other, and if we cannot beat him, we will never defeat our Enemy!"

He took a deep breath, now mad at himself for losing his temper, tears coming to his eyes. "I hate this! I hate fighting!" he said, mostly to himself as he walked a short distance from them. He heaved a deep sigh. "Why is it so hard for you to get along? I don't understand…" He hung his head and rubbed it as if he was suffering a horrible headache. "People can be so awful… I don't think I can take this…"

Jin stood straight and folded his arms, looking away. He rolled his eyes and looked to be bracing himself for something embarrassing. When he finally spoke, he said, "Sorry Betamon. Sorry Mike."

Michael nodded. "Yeah." He swallowed. "I'm sorry too. Muchomon, Scarmon," he braced himself, "Jin."

Their apologies finished, both looked calmer, although neither one's pride would let them look the other in the eyes.

"Well, I… I'm sorry I lost my temper," Ángel said. "And I am sorry I hit you. It is just that… well…"

"Not important now," Jin said, eager to move on to less emotional matters. "Right now, let's think about a way to defeat the jerk with the flaming 'backne,' okay? He's guarding the only realistic way to get to the other mountain without wasting three days, so we have to defeat him."

"Sounds good," Scarmon said, supporting his partner. "But how do we beat him? He's a lot tougher than any of us together and even when we digivolved Muchomon and I couldn't hurt him."

"I don't know," Jin admitted. "SuperStarmon was tough, but Amanda figured out a way to beat him." He scratched his head, thinking to himself that he never would have thought the odd little pervert girl capable of a good battle strategy.

"Well Amanda isn't here," Michael said, "so we'll have to come up with something by ourselves. It can't be too hard to outsmart Volcanomon. Just listening to him, he sounds like a thug: all brawn and no brains." He mentally checked himself from adding a comment about Jin. "If we can figure out a way to trick him somehow, we can win!"

"Well, how can we beat him even if we're not as strong as he is?" Betamon asked. "I mean, I'm glad Jin apologized, but he's right about me only being a Champion. That's as far as I can digivolve and I don't think I can hurt him much that way."

"We'll think of something," Michael said, offering his partner an encouraging smile. "Maybe if we had some kind of attack or weapon that could get around his armor."

Jin had a look as if he'd just had an idea. "You know, I've been to areas like this before… maybe, if I can find the right ingredients, I _could_ make a decent weapon."

"But would it be powerful enough to stop Volcanomon?" Muchomon asked. "I am still hurting from when Scarmon and I fought as Quemamon."

"It would probably be able to blow a crater 10 feet across in the rock of this mountain. It would need to be ignited and it wouldn't damage his armor, but it might stun him, unless we could find a weak spot on him."

Michael asked him a few more questions about this weapon and then a plan began to form.

"Okay, I think I've got it," he said. "He's very tall, so those long legs make him fast, but I've seen Venomon move faster. And he uses fire attacks, which FlareLizamon could withstand better than anyone here. And he's not very smart, so Seadramon might be able to outmaneuver him."

"What about a DNA-digivolve?" Scarmon asked.

"This is the risky part," Michael said. "This time, we have to beat a powerful Ultimate with all of you at only the Champion level."

They listened to him as a plan formed, a strategy that would hopefully turn things back in their favor.

* * *

That night, Michael found himself gazing up at the stars. Here in the Digital World, there were few cities and therefore no city lights to obscure the view. The number of stars in the sky was awe-inspiring. He normally enjoyed looking at them, thinking things over, or just relaxing before he went to sleep. Now, however, he was preoccupied. The confrontation with Volcanomon had slowed them down and it wouldn't be until tomorrow that they made it to their destination… if his plan worked.

Many things troubled him. He still felt guilty after Ángel's outburst earlier that day. It was true, he was partially responsible for the fighting that had gone on and he had said things he didn't mean and regretted now. But the guilt he felt was nothing compared to his worries about Mimi.

With each moment, he considered a new scenario. He wanted to stop thinking about it and relax long enough to enjoy the stars as best he could and maybe get some sleep, but still the idea of Mimi being lost and maybe injured weighed heavily on him. Of course he was worried about Amanda too, no matter what Jin had said, but he had to admit that he was much more worried about Mimi. He pictured Mimi cornered, terrified and staring death in the face as a fiend like Volcanomon closed in on her. Or maybe she was tossing and turning in her sleep, her stomach rumbling because she hadn't been able to find food and because the rations were all in the hands of his group. Or… or maybe she was already dead, the injuries from the crash too bad to survive, and Amanda had been forced to bury her in this lonely place, none of her friends nearby and he never had the chance to say goodbye and he had never let her know how much she meant to him—

_"Stop…"_ he whispered to his persistent mind.

"Is something bothering you?" Ángel asked, coming up behind him. The two of them sat near a campfire. There was an empty can of beans they'd cracked open with a rock (as the girls had the packs with the can opener) lying close by. The three digimon were asleep. They'd all spent most of the day hunting for the ingredients to Jin's weapon, helping him mix ingredients and put it together, and now Jin was out alone looking for the last one. No one was particularly worried about him being alone. The only thing they supposed he had to fear was Volcanomon, who would be easy to detect with his signature stench and the fact that it would be easy to hear something so large coming a mile away. Volcanomon would simply wait for them in the canyon, since they had no other choice but to fight him. In any case, only Michael and Ángel were awake around the campfire, which was now dying away to its last smoldering embers, letting a chill set on the group.

"I'm just thinking," Michael replied.

"You are thinking about the girls," Ángel said.

Michael nodded.

"I'm worried too. I hope we find them tomorrow." Then brightening a bit, he said, "I think things are better for us now, though."

"Why do you say that?" Michael asked.

Ángel pointed in the direction of the sleeping digimon. Michael stifled a chuckle as he saw that Scarmon and Betamon had snuggled up next to one another, along with Muchomon to keep warm.

"They don't let things bother them like we humans do," Ángel said. "That is a good way to be."

Michael nodded absently, looking back to the stars.

"You're thinking about Mimi."

Michael gasped and nearly went into a coughing fit at that. "No!" he said. "I mean I was, but… I…." He looked at Ángel, who was looking at him knowingly. He knew then that there was no point in denying it. "All right, I was."

"I know."

"Are you always this nosy?" Michael snapped.

"What?" Ángel asked, puzzled by Michael's reaction.

"I don't like the idea that... well, there's no other way to say it: you can read my thoughts." He glared at him. "They're private and I know you can read them, even though you avoid talking about it. I don't need you to tell _me_ what I'm thinking about."

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I was only—"

"Can you read my thoughts now?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ángel gulped. "I am glad you don't swear like that out loud."

"I will do more than swear if you read my mind without my permission again," Michael told him.

"I'm sorry," Ángel said again. "I know I have a problem with minding my own business, but I am only trying to help. To tell the truth, I can't always control it very well. I'm trying my best to keep it in touch, but I don't want to just sit and do nothing when I think I can help."

Michael softened a bit. "Well, thank you, but I don't see how knowing that I was thinking of Mimi would help me."

"Well, I wanted to make sure that now was a good time to talk to you about it," Ángel said. "You think about Mimi a lot."

Michael turned bright red. "How… uh, how much of my thoughts did you read?"

Ángel laughed. "I don't need to read your mind to know that you care very much for her. I see the way you look at her and I noticed how you get angry with Jin or make fun of him when he is spending time with her. You're not very happy, Michael. I see that you are sad, and angry, and you get jealous easily."

"I do not!" Michael protested.

Ángel looked at him knowingly again. "You are also a bad liar. That's why Jin, Amanda, and I already know that you have these feelings for Mimi."

Michael swallowed hard. "All of them know?" he asked quietly.

"Yes. But Mimi doesn't."

Michael looked relieved, then moved in close to ask him a question. "If you know so much, how does she feel about me?"

Ángel looked uncomfortable with the question. "I didn't read her mind about you, and I couldn't share that even if I found out accidentally. It would not be right. But... I think you can figure out how she feels just the way I did: by watching her."

Michael sank. He knew what that meant. Mimi never treated him like anything more than a friend. She liked him, of course, but as a friend, and not the same way Michael felt about her.

"Mimi is a very special person," Ángel said. "I can see why you feel the way you do. But that isn't what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Then, what did you want?"

"I want you to stop being jealous of Jin," Ángel said. "Maybe you two won't ever be good friends, but there is no reason for you to treat Jin the way you do."

Michael made a face. "He starts it," he said simply.

"Sometimes he does," Ángel granted him, "but sometimes it is you. Why do you hate him so much?"

"Because he's a big, dumb oaf, he thinks he's so smart just because he knows how to survive in the Digital World, oh, and then there's the fact that he once _tried to kill me._ And does Mimi care about any of that? Oh no, she thinks he's great! In fact—" He stopped himself, realizing what he'd just said.

"I think you have only one reason for not liking Jin," Ángel said with a smirk. "You want Mimi to admire you the way she admires Jin. Those two, they are very close, because they are both Japanese, both have survived a while in the Digital World, and they have each saved each other before. Making fun of him doesn't make you look better. Even if it does work, and she likes Jin less than you, she would be settling for you if she chose you for her boyfriend." He leaned in closely. "And Mimi is very nice and very pretty, so she will not settle for anyone."

Michael hung his head. "I guess you're right," he said. "But I don't understand why she gets along with Jin. He's not like her or me. He's a… a…"

"A poor little punk from the street?" Ángel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly!" Michael agreed, then clapped his hand over his mouth. He remembered Ángel's village, how poor the people had been. "No, I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I didn't mean to sound so shallow."

"I know. But you do act that way sometimes," Ángel said. "Still, I accept your apology. You know, when I was a little boy, I would see the children of rich families in town. Many were American tourists, but some were _méxicanos_, and they would see me dirty from working in the fields and they would laugh or look away and pretend not to see me. I would ask an adult a question about the weather or if something was going on in town that day, and the rich ones would always stop me and say, 'Go away, I don't have anything for you!' They treated me like a beggar, even though my family and I work hard for what we earn. I used to hate the rich people, but then I realized that not all rich people were bad and some of the ones that thought I was a beggar wanted to give me money, to help me. I realized that it was unfair to judge the rich just like it was wrong for them to judge the poor. So we all judge people wrongly sometimes. But it is important to try to make things right. That is why, even though I know that you have money and go to a nice school in New York, I do not hate you. You are a nice person."

Michael smiled.

"But you still treat Jin like a criminal. You think of Jin as an enemy and you focus on what is different about you. You only see that Jin is from the streets and knows about the wilderness and physical things, while you have a mansion and know about society and the arts. You pretend like these things matter, but if you cannot see past this lie," Ángel said, his face grave, "then you may not be able to see past the lies of the Ancient Enemy."

Michael took a deep breath. "Okay," he acknowledged. "I'm sorry. I'll try not to be too judgmental of Jin anymore."

"Oh, and don't wait too long to tell Mimi how you feel," Ángel said, giving a sly grin, "or I will ask her out first!"

Michael laughed, relaxing a little more. The two of them sat together until they heard approaching footsteps and saw Jin coming upon the campsite.

"Ángel," Jin called, "come here. I need to talk to you in private."

Ángel nodded and left Michael alone to speak with Jin. "What is it, Jin?" he asked, once out of earshot from Michael.

"What were you two talking about?" Jin asked.

"I was just giving Michael some advice," Ángel told him.

Jin shook his head. "You do that a lot," he said, sounding annoyed.

"I… I guess I do," Ángel admitted. "But I just want to help."

"Look," Jin sighed, "I appreciate the help you gave me and you probably told Michael something he needed to hear, but you've got to stop doing things like this."

"What things?"

"Things like earlier today," Jin said. "Stepping in between Michael and I. Punching the two of us and getting mixed up in something that wasn't your business."

"But—"

"I know, I know, you just want to help, right? Well, take it from someone who's seen some really bad fights at the juvenile hall: the worst fights break out when someone sticks their neck out at the wrong time."

"What did I do wrong?" Ángel asked.

Jin smiled. Ángel sensed Jin's peculiar mood, but realized too late what he was planning. He braced himself as well as he could, but was still knocked back as Jin's fist slammed into his stomach like a battering ram. Crumpling to his knees, he held himself and gasped for air.

"What you did wrong was take up a fight that wasn't yours," Jin answered, "and treat it like it was your mission to help us poor misguided folks become all nice and pure. You already talked to me and you probably said something to Michael about it too. But instead of letting us work things out for ourselves, you got in the middle of it. Now, you're pretty strong, but I'm still a lot stronger than you. I'll bet I hit you about as hard as you hit me earlier, and I could have hit you much, much harder if I wanted to. Maybe you needed to get involved today, but maybe not. My point is that you shouldn't make the rest of the team's problems into your problems. Because if you're busy protecting us, you won't be looking out for yourself. And one of these days you might get caught in the crossfire with someone much stronger than you can handle. Got it?"

Ángel nodded. Jin offered his hand and helped him up.

"I promised your Mom I'd look out for you," Jin told him, giving him reconciliatory handshake. "Just do me a favor and don't get yourself killed by pleading to one of the Eight Gods to give peace a chance."

Ángel nodded. "I understand," he said.

"Good. Now let's talk with Michael and the digimon. We need to make sure we have our parts in Michael's plan right if we're going to take out Volcanomon tomorrow."

* * *

Emerging from the darkness, Michael found himself in a clearing in the middle of the forest. He saw Amanda kneeling in a pale beam of moonlight and went to her. "Amanda!" he said. "Thank goodness you're all right."

She turned to look up at him, her eyes taking on a strange quality that was both unfocused and piercing. "It's too late," she said, her voice grating and ethereal.

Michael looked down to see what she was kneeling next to. It was Mimi. She was staring up at the sky, her skin pale, and he saw that she was wounded, as a pool of blood was gathering around her, slowly soaking into the earth.

"Mimi!" he cried. "Oh my god, Mimi, what happened?"

Her voice was barely a whisper as she slowly turned her head. Her breathing was ragged and wheezing as she reached for his hand. "I... was waiting for you..."

He watched in disbelief as her hand dropped lifelessly to the ground and her eyes shut for the final time, and he knew instinctively that she was gone.

"No..." he breathed, his eyes filling with tears. "No, no, no, oh god, oh please..." he grasped her hand desperately as he sobbed uncontrollably.

"Hey!" a voice called. "Hey, wake up!"

He opened his eyes and saw the starry sky, the image swimming and distorted. He realized his eyes were filled with tears and he wiped them away. It was only a dream. He turned to face whoever had awakened him and was surprised to see that it was Jin.

"You were calling Mimi's name in your sleep and, uh... the crying was getting on my nerves."

Michael took a deep breath. "I... I'm sorry, it was a nightmare. I just... thanks for bringing me out of it."

"Pretty bad, eh?"

Michael didn't reply, but hugged his knees to his chest. He was breathing hard, trying to shake the awful feeling that lingered.

Jin grumbled something.

"What's that?" Michael asked.

"I, uh, I said I couldn't sleep either."

Michael didn't reply at first. "What about Ángel?"

"Heh. The guy's fast asleep. Good thing too, I don't think I'd ever hear the end of whatever touchy-feely speech he'd want to give us for... well, bottom line is, yeah, I'm worried too. But we need to get back to bed so we can be alert to try out this plan of yours."

"I'll sleep in a little while," he replied.

Jin sighed and, rolling his eyes gave him a quick pat on the back. "It'll be fine," he said. "Mimi's tougher than she looks and the brat's smart. We just need to find them."

Michael smiled. "You're right. All right, I'll try to sleep."

Jin grunted something that might have been "Good," or "Good night." Either way, Michael curled back up in his sleeping bag and nodded off before too long.

Neither he nor Jin heard Ángel when he stirred and awoke, rubbing his face. "Amanda... _sé segura."_

* * *

Volcanomon tapped his foot impatiently. The sound of it echoed off the walls of the canyon, which only served to infuriate him further.

"Where are they?" he roared at last. He had been waiting for those Digidestined wimps to show up, but there had been no sign of them. He wondered if they had been so cowardly that they would have rather faced climbing down the steep mountainside than chance another battle with him. The thought of them chickening out before him made him feel better, but the thought of missing his chance to eliminate them brought back the anger.

And the fear, of course. The boss had told them to eliminate the Digidestined and not let them escape. He had no chance of chasing them; he was just too big and unwieldy to scale the mountains after them and hope to catch them. Fortunately, he was blocking their escape route, which meant that they had to show up sooner or later. Preferably, it would be sooner. Not only because he wanted another good fight, but because the boss had said to act quickly, and he didn't want to find out what punishment a delay would bring.

Then, even as he was focusing on what he'd do when they showed up, they were there.

Actually, it was just one of them. Venomon stood before him. The large reptilian creature was so stealthy that Volcanomon hadn't even noticed him until now.

"Back for more?" Volcanomon snickered. "Where are all your friends?"

"They sent me to see if you were still here," Venomon replied coolly. "We could all smell you, but I wanted to make sure it was you and not a raw sewage plant!"

Volcanomon clenched his fists, smoke rising from the crater of the volcano on his back. "You… you…" he stammered.

"Yyyyeeeeessss?" Venomon pressed, baring his teeth in a taunting smile.

_"You die!"_ Volcanomon bellowed, charging for him. Venomon had anticipated this, however, and easily dashed away, Volcanomon in hot pursuit.

_Well, I got him to chase me,_ Venomon thought. _I hope the others are ready for the rest of the plan._

* * *

Ángel stood on top of an outcropping at the side of the canyon. He could see a cloud of dust being kicked up in the distance and knew it had to be Venomon and Volcanomon running along the canyon floor. He gave a nod to Jin, who was a little farther up the path through the canyon, who in turn nodded to Michael.

"Are you ready, Seadramon?" he asked his partner.

Seadramon was hidden behind a large pillar of rock jutting high out of the ground. Across from him was another pillar near the opposite wall. He hoped he was hidden well enough. A lot of the plan hinged on him being able to surprise Volcanomon.

"If this signal thing works, then I'll be ready!" he replied.

The three of them prepared, all that remained was for them to wait for Venomon.

Venomon was moving as fast as he could, keeping him just ahead of Volcanomon, whose long legs did indeed help him run very fast. If Venomon ran out of steam or tripped, Volcanomon would have him. He was barely able to keep ahead of him as it was, but he just needed to get past those pillars.

"You can't get away, you shrimp!" Volcanomon shouted.

When Venomon cleared the pillars, Ángel gave the signal, a wave of his hand, which was relayed to Jin, which then went to Michael, and finally to Seadramon. The slender digimon nimbly wrapped his tail around one pillar, anchoring himself, then darted the length to the other pillar and wrapped his neck around it.

Volcanomon did see this move, but not in time. He had no way to stop with his forward momentum and no time to jump. He caught his foot on Seadramon's extended body like a taut wire and tripped, falling like a felled tree onto his face.

"You'll pay for that!" Volcanomon snarled, raising his head, preparing to stand.

He looked up to see Venomon standing just ahead of him.

"Lights out, Old Smokey," Venomon chuckled. _"Venom Spit!"_ he attacked, spitting a glob of the caustic green venom into his eyes.

Volcanomon let out a howl of agony, blinded by the attack and flailing about wildly, smashing rock and missing his opponents. "I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed, clawing at his eyes.

FlareLizamon, who'd stood on top of the canyon wall, held something in his hand. The outer shell was that of a large nut native to the Digital World the size of a coconut, but it had been hollowed out. Inside were ingredients from a variety of plants and minerals combined into a highly potent explosive, sealed with a gooey substance that would melt away in heat. FlareLizamon had been careful not to let his flaming body heat up the object before it was time. This homemade bomb of Jin's was their secret weapon and FlareLizamon had to make sure that he got it to the exact right spot. It had taken almost an entire day to make it, and they only had one. Seeing Volcanomon almost totally helpless, he decided it was now or never and leapt off the canyon wall.

He landed on Volcanomon's back taking hold of the miniature volcano to steady himself. Volcanomon gave a shout of protest, but couldn't reach his attacker with his bulky arms. FlareLizamon reeled back, the bomb in hand, and plunged his arm down into the crater on Volcanomon's back, his own flames shielding him from the burning hot lava, letting go of the bomb and letting it sink into the magma deep inside his body. Knowing there were only a few seconds before the magma burned through and ignited the explosives, he leapt off Volcanomon's back and hoped that Jin knew what he was doing.

Volcanomon, meanwhile, managed to clear the venom from his eyes. He squinted and blinked away tears, seeing the vague forms of his foes before him. "Now, I've got you!" he laughed. "I'll teach you to pull a cheap trick like that!"

"That bomb should have gone off by now," Jin murmured.

"You think it was a dud?" Michael asked fearfully, seeing the murderous glint in Volcanomon's eyes.

"This time, I won't let you off so easy," Volcanomon said. _"Big Bang—"_

The attack was cut off, however, as the conical volcano on his back exploded, a deafening shockwave radiating out and echoing through the narrow canyon. The explosion sent bits of rock, lava, and metal plates from Volcanomon's back flying in a gigantic cloud. A massive plume of black smoke began to rise from what was left of his back.

Volcanomon himself was still standing, although his knees were shaking and he had a look of absolute horror on his face, the sweat pouring off him as his body coped with the shock of having a bomb exploding within him, tearing through his insides. With astonished eyes, his jaw dropped open, letting out a whiff of black smoke to match the one coming from his back. Staring through the blinding pain, he spoke his last words, softly, almost a whisper:

_"Ow."_

That said, he closed his eyes and tipped backwards, shattering into data before he even hit the ground.

The six of them all gave a triumphant cheer as the three Champions reverted to their Rookie forms, running over to accept congratulations from their partners.

"Great job, Betamon!" Michael congratulated him.

"It's a good thing he wasn't going any faster; I almost snapped like a rubber band!" Betamon said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I'm very proud of you, Muchomon," Ángel said. "You were very brave."

"I'm just glad you taught me how to play basketball back home!" Muchomon said. "I got that grenade right in there."

"Yeah, that worked great!" Scarmon laughed. "That guy went up like Mount Saint Harvey!"

"Helens," Jin laughed. "And thanks for acting as bait," he added.

"Yeah, you two were great," Michael told the pair.

Jin and Scarmon stared at him. Jin's look of confusion gave way to one of satisfaction.

"Well, it was part of _your_ plan." He wasn't sure what was more odd: that the two of them were complimenting each other, or that they were doing it willingly.

"Hey, we can't keep standing around like this," Betamon spoke up.

"He's right, we have to try and find the girls," Michael said, leading the rest of them. "We can give the digimon a break and carry them the rest of the way, but we can't waste any more time!"

_When we find Mimi, I can't wait to tell her this story,_ Michael thought. _All this time, I've been trying to be a knight in shining armor for her, but really I've just been posturing. This time, with the others, I really feel like one, taking down a monster like that. Just wait, Mimi, Amanda, we'll be there soon!_

* * *

The three of them stared at the contraption. It was a familiar scene. The little section of Sky City had crash-landed here as well, leaving some wreckage, although it had ceased to give off smoke by now. There was only one problem.

"Where are they?" Betamon asked.

"Looks like they're gone," Jin said, frowning. "I think I can make out some footprints here, though. Maybe we can track them."

Scarmon sniffed the ground, and then sniffed the air. "I think I've got something," he said, sniffing the air again. "I think it's—"

"Mimi's perfume," Jin and Michael said in unison. Only Ángel seemed to notice, but he decided not to dwell on it; there were more important things to do.

They were about to start following the trail when Jin stopped them.

"Hey, before we go, are all you digimon feeling okay? Do you have enough energy to keep going… maybe even fight again?"

"Why do you ask?" Betamon asked.

"Because," Jin explained, "if the girls and their digimon went off alone, there should be four prints here." He looked up uneasily. "I'm counting five."

**To be continued…**

_(Next time: the boys have had their story, but what about the girls? Mimi and Amanda's tale is up next!)_

_(P.S. Testosterone! Male bonding! Explosions! Are you not entertained? Well, then, a **review** would be nice. ^^)_


	12. A Tale of Two Princesses

**Chapter Eleven:**

**A Tale of Two Princesses**

The seemingly endless trip downwards was approaching a horrific conclusion. There were the momentary rays of hope as the falling contraption occasionally gave a short jolt, the hover engines trying to support the structure and keep it aloft. Those hopes were repeatedly dashed as the momentary slowing gave way to a renewed plummet. Amanda might have likened it to an elevator that simply plunged down several floors, stopped to let people on, then continued on its way to the ground floor.

The ground floor in this case was just that: the ground. The occasional breaks had a slight chance of slowing them enough to cushion their fall, but it was just as likely that they would hit the ground at full force, and they would die.

Amanda, Mimi, Palmon, and Penguinmon might have expressed these hopes or fears verbally if they weren't all screaming.

The Sky City dome flipped like a coin through the air, tossing the four occupants around inside violently. It was in one of these flips that Amanda was thrown not into the wall, but out the open door and into thin air.

She gawked in horror as the ground loomed below. It was a vast expansive forest and now she was only a few hundred feet above it. The screams of her friends still rung in her ears, but the sound seemed dull now. Now there was only the awful sound of the wind rushing past her. There was no jerky stop this time. She was free falling and this final drop would be the one that would kill her. Frozen momentarily by shock, she was brought out of it when she had the chilling realization that there would be nothing to break her fall and that the last thing she might hear as she died was the sound of her own body shattering on the ground. She screamed as she made the headlong plunge downward.

Still, even amid her own scream and the wind, she was able to make out an odd flapping sound, like those of a passing bird. Then there was a sudden shadow and a gentle bump as something snatched her from the air. She felt something holding her and looked upwards. To her surprise, she found herself in the arms of a strange man who smiled reassuringly at her. Then she noticed that from his back sprouted a pair of smoky gray wings that he soared upon. Whoever her savior was, he was definitely not human.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

Now that she was saved, she noticed how handsome the man was and smiled. "I'm fine," she said. Then she remembered the others. "Penguinmon! My friends!"

She and the winged creature looked and saw the small dome still falling. However, it made one last jolt upwards and then finally crashed through the treetops. The fall could certainly have been worse, but it could still have seriously injured any one of them.

"Please, my friends—"

"Don't worry," the man said soothingly.

The two of them flew over the crash site and landed gently nearby. The stranger set Amanda down and she hurried over to the wrecked structure. "Penguinmon?" she called tentatively. "Mimi? Palmon? Are you okay?"

"Amanda?" came a small voice. A very disoriented Penguinmon crawled from the wreckage and looked up to see that his partner was safe and sound. "You're all right," he said. "I was afraid—"

"That's okay," she said, her voice cracking as she knelt to hug him. "We're both okay."

"But Mimi's not!" Palmon cried, emerging as well. She looked worse than Penguinmon: her petals were torn and she held her left side in pain. "She's pinned under something and I can't pull her out!"

"Mimi?" Amanda asked, sticking her head inside the structure.

"I'm all right," she said weakly, trying to smile though her leg was twisted and pinned under a crumpled hunk of metal.

Amanda sniffed the air. "You might not be for long. I think this thing ruptured a fuel tank or something. We have to get you out of there before this thing catches on fire or explodes or something!"

Mimi swallowed. "Maybe Palmon or Penguinmon should digivolve; this thing is too heavy for us to move on our own." She was trying to remain calm, but the fear in her voice was obvious.

"No need," said the stranger, whom Palmon and Penguinmon noticed for the first time.

"Who are you?" Palmon asked.

The stranger did not respond, but calmly walked to the wreckage and cracked his knuckles. He plunged one hand into the side of it as if it was mere cardboard and tore off a huge chunk of metal, making a large enough opening for him to see inside the crumpled structure. He saw the girder which held Mimi and gave a half smile. "No problem," he said, taking hold of the girder. He strained for a few seconds, then tore the thick piece of steel from the structure, freeing Mimi. He offered her a hand and helped her out of the wreckage.

"Thank you," Mimi said, bowing politely. "I'm not sure what we would have done if you hadn't come by."

Just then, the structure burst into flames, sending a plume of black smoke into the air.

"Well, I guess we would have been barbequed," Penguinmon said. "Thanks a lot Mr… hey, what is your name anyway?"

The stranger smiled. "How rude of me," he said. "I should have introduced myself sooner. I am Aristomon."

Amanda looked the creature over. He wore old-fashioned clothes that looked at home on a 19th century British lord. On his feet were a pair of pointed black boots with gold buckles. A pair of light gray slacks covered his slender legs. He also wore a white dress shirt over which was a black, silk vest and, over that, a gray coat with a pair of tails at the back. He also had a small white ascot which was held by an emerald clasp. While he was a digimon, he looked remarkably human. He had pale skin, slender fingers and long, whitish hair, but a young, gentle face. He had the look of a gentle guardian angel, the smoky gray wings only adding to the look. With his classical beauty and old-fashioned clothes, he definitely had the look of an aristocrat. After a brief scan with her pocket analyzer, she came up with additional information: Ultimate level, Vaccine attribute, Angel type digimon.

After the small group had introduced themselves in return, Aristomon explained how he happened upon them.

"I was going out for a flight when I saw the craft falling. I saw Lady Giroux—" He was here interrupted by Amanda giggling abashedly at being spoken of as a "Lady." "I saw her tumble from it and swooped over to save her. She pointed out that the rest of you were inside, so I came to assist you as well."

"Thank you, but didn't you see anything else falling?" Mimi asked.

"You mean another craft? No, why do you ask?"

"It looks like the boys landed somewhere else," Palmon sighed.

"What should we do now?" Penguinmon asked.

Mimi thought it might be a good idea to stay near the crash site. With the smoke rising from it, the boys might see it and come for them. Aristomon had other ideas.

"There is no reason you should stay here," he protested. "I have a home at the peak of the mountain. I'll have you there as my guests and send out my servants to watch for your friends. They can scour the area thoroughly and in far less time. In the meantime, you can recover after your terrible ordeal."

"I don't know," Mimi said, unsurely.

"Come on, Mimi, we've been camping out in the woods for ages. Maybe you can finally get a hot bath like you wanted!" Amanda's mind was racing. Anyone named Aristomon probably had a huge mansion, which would be a welcome change from sleeping on the cold ground out in the open.

"Well… okay," Mimi agreed.

"Wonderful!" Aristomon said, clapping his hands together. "If you'll follow me, it's not a long walk."

He seemed hesitant for a moment, then asked posed them a question. "I hate to pry, but are you two _humans_, by any chance?"

Mimi and Amanda looked to each other. "Yes, we're human," Amanda said.

"And your friends, they're humans like you?"

"Uh-huh," Mimi said. "They're just like us. Well, except that they're boys."

_"Vive la différence__!"_ Amanda quipped.

"Ah, I see," Aristomon said. "Then I hope I will meet them as well. I've never had any humans in my home, so this will be a rare opportunity indeed."

* * *

"Wow!" Mimi exclaimed. She was in sheer awe of Aristomon's manor and was the most vocal of the group. Amanda, normally the most talkative of any of them, was lost for words.

"Welcome to my home," Aristomon said.

The place was gigantic. The simple dirt trail that had led up to it had given way to a cobblestone path. That path led to the top of the mountain, where Aristomon's estate sat on an expansive plateau. They arrived at an enormous gate that was guarded by a pair of PawnChessmon. "Welcome back, Master," they said in unison. Once admitted inside, they were treated to the full view of the place. The front yard (if one could call it something so large a "yard") was lined with numerous shrubs and flower gardens put into orderly rows. The path up the middle of it led to the house itself, which was simply mountainous. It was a good three stories tall and extended in each direction so far that, even standing all the way across the yard from it, the whole of it could not be seen at once.

"W… wow," Amanda finally said.

"That's the biggest house I've ever seen!" Penguinmon said.

"This is bigger than the Geckomon's palace, Mimi!" Palmon exclaimed.

"How many rooms does it have?" Mimi asked.

"Hmm… I believe… one hundred and thirty eight," Aristomon replied.

"What can you do with that many rooms?" sputtered Penguinmon.

"Anything you want!" Amanda cried. She grabbed hold of Aristomon's hand and started tugging him forward. "Can we have a tour? Please, please, pleeease?"

Aristomon laughed good-naturedly. "You're very energetic, Amanda. All right, I'll show you around, but be prepared to do some light walking."

* * *

Aristomon had not done the length of the tour justice: it took two hours to show them all the rooms and tell them something interesting about each of them. Even so, the four of them found him to be charming host and he often had a funny story or the history of a particular item and no one was bored. He showed them a dozen different bedrooms, his own larger than most houses either had been in, a hall where antique suits of armor were kept, a basement wine cellar the size of a major library, and several different art galleries with scores of paintings and finely chiseled marble busts of great digimon heroes of the past. He also had a private library with more books than Mimi thought possible to read in a lifetime, yet Aristomon claimed that he had read each of them at least once, and many several times. They explored every room, save for one door at the end of one of the hallways that Amanda asked about.

"That's the closet," Aristomon laughed. "Not worth seeing. Unless you'd care to examine the many fine brooms with which my servants sweep the manor?"

Everyone was charmed by Aristomon's carefree life and gentle attitude. If there was any place they wouldn't have minded crash-landing, this was it.

Still, the walking tired them all out and Aristomon took them to the balcony at the back of the house and had a servant bring them drinks.

"What's in this?" Amanda asked.

"Ginger ale, pineapple juice, and popup fruit."

"Popup fruit?" Amanda asked.

"It's native to the Digital World," Palmon explained. "When you take one down, another one seems to appear right after it."

"Well, it's delicious," Amanda said, a contented smile on her face as she took a sip and leaned back in her chair.

The whole group sat outside enjoying the sun and the crisp, yet warm mountain air. Out in Aristomon's backyard was a hedge maze that went on for acres. Mimi had been eyeing it for a while when Aristomon finally took noticed and asked if they would like to give it a try.

"Well, I'm still a little tired," Mimi said, "but it looks like fun…"

She gave in and they asked Aristomon to join them. He declined, saying he'd run the maze enough times and knew the way to the center by heart.

He watched them descend the balcony staircase and enter the maze, smiling amusedly at their energetic, even endearing ways. He'd never had guests as entertaining as these.

* * *

Mimi had gone along with the others for only a few minutes when she suddenly stopped, realizing that something about this situation was very wrong. She had stopped in her tracks and her pleased smile was now replaced with a look of concern. Palmon, like the truly attentive partner she was, noticed immediately.

"Mimi, what's wrong? Don't you want to finish the maze?"

"Mazes are hard. And I hate mazes," she pouted.

Palmon blinked. "No you don't. It was your idea." Then she got a better look at her partner's face. "That's not what's really bothering you, is it?"

Mimi shook her head. "Well, I know Aristomon said that he would send someone out to look for the boys, but…"

"But you think we should look for them instead?"

Mimi nodded. "I'm scared, Palmon," she said.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, so am I."

"There's something wrong here, but I don't know what. The boys might be lost and looking for us and here we are having fun at a rich digimon's mansion. Doesn't that remind you of something?"

"It sure does 'Princess Mimi.'"

The Geckomon Palace was in both their minds. Mimi had found the Geckomon when she separated from her friends and she had almost lost their friendship when she became a pampered, spoiled brat that preferred to keep herself amused than help save the world. Now it wasn't quite the same, but she was still having the time of her life when her friends might be in danger.

"I think we need to talk to Amanda. We should thank Aristomon and leave to find the guys."

"He could help us find them, too," Palmon suggested.

"I'm sure he will!" Mimi said, brightening. "I'll feel a whole lot better when we find them and they can see this place for themselves! Now, let's find Amanda and Penguinmon and turn back."

The two had lagged behind a bit and the other pair had put a lot of distance between them. Hurrying after them, Mimi and Palmon eventually came to… a dead end.

"I take it back: I do hate mazes," grumbled Mimi.

They did eventually catch up to Amanda and Penguinmon, but it was almost an hour later after aimless wanderings and backtracks through the maze. Exhausted, they finally got to the center where Amanda and Penguinmon were waiting patiently.

"What kept you?" Amanda asked.

"That wasn't a race, you know!" Mimi said, breathing hard.

"Sure it was!" Amanda said. "And I won!"

"How'd you get so far ahead of us?"

"I digivolved," Penguinmon said, just as smug as his partner, "and Amanda stood on my shoulders so she could figure out the best way to go."

"Cheaters!" Palmon exclaimed.

"At least we're not losers!" Penguinmon laughed, blowing a raspberry.

"It doesn't matter!" Mimi yelled. "Amanda, Penguinmon… we want to leave."

Amanda's smile didn't waver. "Come again?"

"I think we should leave and find our friends."

"Why?" Amanda asked, laughing spitefully. "Aristomon has servants looking for them."

"But we should be doing everything we can! _We_ should be looking for them, because they're our friends, not Aristomon's."

"No way!" Amanda said, stomping past Mimi petulantly. "This place is fantastic! We almost died today, we got lucky and found a nice digimon that isn't trying to kill us, we're being waited on hand and foot and we can get some real food and a nice soft bed!"

"We could always come back—"

"They won't want to do that!" She moved from the center of the maze towards one of the exits. "The boys will want to go find the rest of the Eight Gods and finish them off, not take a break. Well I'm tired and I'm ready for a break, so let's relax for a while. Besides, it's getting late."

Mimi looked up and saw that Amanda was right: the sky was slowly turning orange. The sun was setting and soon it would be dark.

"It's a bad idea to go looking for them at night, Mimi," Amanda said. "We'll never find them when it's dark out."

"All right," Mimi conceded. "We'll look for them tomorrow."

"Mm-hm," Amanda mumbled.

"You promise?"

"Yes, fine, whatever," she growled.

Mimi accepted Amanda's half-hearted reply, but it bothered her nonetheless. When Amanda had come to their rescue back on Sky City, she had seemed changed. She seemed just a little more mature and less like the naïve little girl they had first found in Roxanne. Now it was like that maturity had never been there. Amanda was living the high-life and had fallen into its trap: she was enjoying herself too much to think about anyone else. Mimi knew what that was like, but to see it in someone else was a shock. She was just happy Amanda had agreed to leave tomorrow.

The two girls and their digimon worked their way back through the maze and finally made it out just at twilight. Nearby the exit was something that caught their eye.

"Oh, how cute!" Mimi exclaimed.

The creature was indeed cute. It walked on all fours and was slightly larger than a cat and it had a lot of cat like features. A round head with large eyes and cat-like ears, for example. However, it more closely resembled a tiger, with its larger size, curved black claws and stripes that marked its back, legs, and tail. The coloring was off, though, so it definitely wasn't a tiger. Its fur was tan, but the stripes were a darker brown color, the same color as the mane that grew from its head and led down the back of its neck.

"Hi there, little guy!" Mimi approached the creature, ignoring Amanda's warning that it might not be friendly. The creature was friendly, however, and let Mimi pet it, purring as she did so.

"Are you some kind of digimon?" she asked it.

"No, it's not," Aristomon interjected, coming over to them. "That's a liger: a rare endangered species of the Digital World and one of the last on the continent of Folder. It can't talk, but it does seem to like you anyway, Mimi."

"Is it your pet?"

"Pet?" The word seemed odd to Aristomon. "No, I don't think so. You see, I collect rare animals. I want to appreciate their beauty and uniqueness before they're all gone. I've only had two ligers in my possession before and this little fellow is the only one still alive. Isn't that right, liger?"

The liger growled at him suddenly and took a swipe at him with one claw before running off.

"What's his problem?" Penguinmon asked.

"Oh, it's just his mood. He's almost more trouble than he's worth. If he wasn't so rare, I'd… well, it doesn't matter," he said, laughing it off. "In any case, would you all like to join me for dinner?"

* * *

"…And so we left the Digital World and our digimon behind. We didn't know if we'd ever see each other again, but things turned out all right. And that's how we beat Apocalymon and the Dark Masters."

"That's quite a story," Aristomon said, taking another sip of wine. "And now you've come to this place to fight those Eight Gods?"

"Yeah, but let's not talk about that," Amanda said. "Why don't you tell us about you?"

The five of them were all seated at a long table in the dining room. Actually, it was the "small" dining room, though it was still the size of a barn. The simple meal of grilled salmon and rice was nothing special, but Aristomon had an antique candelabra set out and set one of his many Bakemon servants to softly playing some dinner music on a piano. In all her life, Amanda had never felt so much like royalty.

"Well, I doubt you'd want to hear the details of my life," Aristomon said.

"No, please," Amanda insisted.

"Very well," Aristomon said, relenting. "Well, my progenitors were both wealthy and respected digimon. They had enormous influence and a vast fortune as well as several estates all over the planet. Then there was a sudden feud between several ruling factions and my progenitors were among those that fell. Our fortune was lost and I was set adrift."

"Oh, that's so sad," Mimi said.

"I took what I had left and brought it to this place. This is the last remaining bit of my family's fortune. I intend to uphold and honor my family's honor by preserving the nobility of it. I appreciate beauty in all its forms so I have filled this place with all the rare and beautiful things I could find. Now, I own this land and preside over it as its rightful lord. It isn't much, but I think of it as a monument to my former grace as a noble."

Mimi searched hard for an appropriate response. "It's nice."

Amanda seemed peeved at Mimi's statement of the obvious. "I had a question," she said. "What do you mean, 'progenitors?' Are they your parents?"

"What?" asked Aristomon. "What do you mean— oh, I forgot: you humans are not like us digimon. You are born through, ah, _other_ means."

"So... how is it with digimon?" Amanda asked. Palmon and Penguinmon noticeably sank in their seats, embarrassed.

"I see your partners did not tell you much, if anything," Aristomon said. "But surely you suspected that digimon came from somewhere other than Primary Village. We weren't all born there only to cross the seas and populate the rest of the world. However, I don't feel that such talk is appropriate for the dinner table. Agreed?"

"Yes!" said Palmon and Penguinmon in unison.

"Sir?" a Bakemon called.

"Yes, what is it?"

"There's a call for you, sir."

"I'm in the middle of dinner," he said.

"Yes, I told him that, but," the Bakemon gulped, "he said you'd want to talk to him."

Aristomon sighed. "I apologize," he told his guests. "It's probably one of my business partners who's found some antique. I'll return in a short while. In the meantime, I'll send for desert. Is chocolate mousse all right?"

Everyone nodded.

Aristomon entered the room and shut the door behind him. "Hello? To whom am I speaking?"

_"Howdy!"_ came the dreadfully jovial reply.

Aristomon's flesh went cold. "Master," he gasped. "I… I wasn't expecting you."

_"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"_ Delgado laughed, as did Aristomon though he didn't get it. _"Well, enough jokes. Where are my Digidestined?"_

"The Digidestined?"

_"Answer the question."_

The order was not forceful, but his voice contained as much malice as if he'd simply said, "I'm going to kill you."

"They… they've come to me, Master."

_"All of them?"_

"No, just two humans and two digimon."

_"They were separated. Just like I thought."_

"Volcanomon is nearby sir, I'm sure he could find them."

_"He'd better. But have you killed them yet?"_

"No, not yet. I'm treating them as my guests."

_"Lulled them into a false sense of security, eh? Maybe you are more **sophisticated** than those other Eight Gods. But don't let it go to your head. You know what will happen if you let them get away."_

There was a _click_ and the phone went dead. Things were getting very complicated. His master had forced his hand.

Then again, he supposed that Delgado couldn't be everywhere at once, so he would have no knowledge of what he was doing. Maybe he could hold up his end of the bargain and still get what he wanted.

All he needed to do was convince the lovely young ladies to stay a little while longer.

* * *

Mimi leaned against the doorframe and watched as Amanda looked herself over in the mirror. The two of them were now in the guest bedroom that had been designated Amanda and Penguinmon's room for the night. Mimi's was down the hall.

The room was gigantic and very well furnished, much like the rest of the house. The full-length mirror Amanda was peering into had an elaborate oaken frame and she was posing in front of it like a model, even though she was wearing nothing more than her normal pajamas. There was a walk-in closet that she had frivolously put all her clothes in, "Just to see what it would be like to have one." (This really bothered Mimi, since she would just have to pack it up again the next morning.) The bed itself was at the center of the room, had a flowing lace canopy, and was atop a small set of stairs, raising it above the rest of the room. Penguinmon occupied himself by bouncing on it.

"Aristomon seemed pretty worried when we told him we had to leave in the morning," Mimi said, making conversation.

"Well, I told him we'd at least stay until lunch and that made him happy," Amanda said.

"What?" Mimi demanded. "Amanda, we need to leave first thing in the morning!"

"But I promised him!" Amanda said. "I promised you we'd leave tomorrow and we will. After lunch."

"Amanda—"

"You don't want me to break my promise to him, do you?" Amanda said slyly.

"Why didn't you ask me first?"

"Because I knew you'd say no."

Mimi had lost her patience. "That's it, you little brat!" she screamed furiously. "You listen to me—"

"No, _you_ listen!" Amanda shouted back. "You've been getting on my case ever since this afternoon! I've never seen anything like this place and I'm not going to leave until I have to. The guys are tough enough to take care of themselves, so I don't see why we should leave anyway. And, as long as we're calling each other names," she added, her words growing more venomous, "you ought to think of someone other than yourself, you... you stuck-up, prissy snob!"

The two digimon were dead silent as the two girls glared at each other. Mimi had never been called names quite as viciously as this and she gritted her teeth, trying to keep back the hot tears that were welling up. Amanda just laughed.

"Crying? Really? See, that's what I mean," Amanda said. "You're not used to being called names or being treated badly, are you _Princess?_ You're the pretty girl who's used to having people trip over themselves to help you out." Now she looked somewhat bitter, a sulkiness about her Mimi had never seen. "That's how it is for you all the time, Mimi. But me? I'm the smart, plain-looking unpopular girl who has to work hard for everything, and you're the sweet, pretty girl who never has to lift a finger or, God forbid, _think_ to get what she wants. Well, maybe I want to be treated like a princess for once, so excuse me if I don't want to cut it short!"

After the initial shock of Amanda's words, a small part of it sank in. "Wait a minute," Mimi said. "Did you… are you calling me… do you think I'm... _dumb?"_

A slight smirk appeared on Amanda's face. "Well, do you remember that joke I told a few days ago about the blonde who got fired from the M&M factory for throwing away all the W's? Do you remember what you said?"

"I said it was sad, because she didn't do anything wrong! I mean, who wants W's in their M&Ms anyway?"

Penguinmon had a hard time trying not to laugh. Mimi felt her cheeks reddening. There was something she wasn't getting and Palmon looked just as clueless.

"W-well, anyway," Mimi said, trying to sound confident, "I don't see how that answers my question. Do you think I'm dumb?"

"I'll answer that with one question, Mimi," Amanda said. "What is… oh, look! A distraction!" she exclaimed pointing out the door.

"Huh, where?" Mimi said going outside to look.

The door slammed behind her and she heard it lock, Amanda's cruel laughter ringing out behind it. It was then that Mimi realized she had been tricked, and she clenched her fists, her face turning red.

"Uh… Mimi?" Palmon asked.

A single word began to grow from deep within the girl. Mimi felt it welling up in her throat and, shaking with anger, she let it build until it burst from her in a piercing shriek:

**"SH—"**

* * *

Meanwhile, at the boys' camp on the adjacent mountain, Michael suddenly awoke and sat upright in his sleeping bag.

"Hey, did anyone else hear something?"

* * *

Lying in her own bed, Mimi stewed over Amanda's words as Palmon tried to comfort her.

"I am not dumb!" Mimi protested.

"Of course you're not, Mimi."

"I can figure things out on my own!"

"Yeah, that's right!"

"So what if I'm not the smartest girl in the world? I know lots of things, like… uh, the square of three is six!"

Palmon was quiet for a minute. "I thought it was nine."

Mimi thought for a moment. "Oh… right." Now she felt even more depressed.

"Oh, cheer up, Mimi! It's just math! And I'm sure Amanda didn't mean it."

Mimi was barely listening. She was considering her past intellectual pursuits and it wasn't pretty. She wasn't good at math, as had just been proven. Nor had she done very well in science or history or any other school subject. She struggled hard to study, to learn, to prove that she wasn't just a brainless beauty, but now that she thought about it, being a C average student wasn't very impressive. It didn't end with school either. She thought about some of the smarter people she'd spent time with. Izzy, for example, had often talked to her and she liked him, but she realized that half of the time she didn't understand a word he said. The word "prodigious" had no meaning to her, she had confused "data" with "dating," and she had often said something to him only have him look at her the way people usually looked at naïve, prattling children. Joe occasionally did the same thing: he would start talking about something, Mimi would lose track of what he was saying and he would say, "Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I got carried away. Let's change the subject." Now, she suspected, it wasn't that he got carried away so much as he realized that he was talking about something too complicated for her to understand. And then there was Michael…

Well, actually, that was a bad example. Michael was very bright, too, but he never made her feel the slightest bit stupid. He explained things when they were over her head and he just laughed when Mimi said something a little off, but he wasn't laughing at her: he was just laughing. She suddenly thought about where he might be at the time, and wondered if he and the other boys were okay. She felt her chest tighten and became very anxious. She and Amanda had just assumed that if they had survived, then the boys probably had as well. They all acted so tough, so it seemed obvious, but after all they were just flesh and blood. If they had fallen much harder, then...

_What if they're really hurt? What if they need help? They might really need us and they could be running out of time while we're just playing here!_ She hugged herself and realized how lonely she felt. Without her friends and with Amanda acting like she was, she felt adrift. She wanted to see all her friends together again, wanted that more than anything else.

"Hello, Earth to Mimi?" Palmon called.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry, I was thinking about something," Mimi apologized.

"There you go, thinking! That's a smart thing to do!"

Mimi chuckled. Having her partner there eased her mind and she remembered that as long as Palmon was there, she wasn't really alone. "You know, maybe I'm no genius, but I can still do something smart. Tomorrow, I'm going to figure out how to find the boys or help them find us!"

"Good idea." Palmon then yawned deeply, the day's events catching up to her.

"We should get some sleep," Mimi said. "We can find the boys tomorrow morning and let Amanda play around here until lunchtime. Good night, Palmon."

"'Night Mimi."

Mimi closed her eyes. Before she dropped off, she muttered her last conscious thought: "W's… I still don't get it…"

* * *

Aristomon swished the wine in his glass. The Bakemon waited patiently as his master made his decision. Aristomon had to admire the Bakemon; they made excellent servants, they were extremely mobile because they could fly anywhere, and they were all simple-minded enough to follow every order without question.

"We could finish them off in their sleep, master," the Bakemon said.

"No," Aristomon said. "I haven't made my decision on how to do this. If I knew how I wanted them… well, I'll observe them and make a decision on presentation later. In the meantime, set up a place for them."

"Yes, master."

"We will take care of it tomorrow. I'd like to get all I can out of this opportunity."

"As you wish, my lord."

The Bakemon left, leaving Aristomon in his study. "It's such a shame that it had to be done this way."

* * *

Mimi got up and got dressed early that morning. She immediately went to Amanda's room and knocked on the door. The door was opened by Penguinmon.

"Hi Mimi, hi Palmon!" he said. "Guess what? We get breakfast in bed!"

He opened the door wide and they saw that Amanda was lying in bed surrounded by several trays of delicious food. "Morning, Mimi!" she said. "Did you ask for breakfast? They'll bring you anything you want!"

"You can't possibly eat all that," Mimi said, noticeably annoyed.

"Maybe not, but I can at least sample everything!" she laughed. "They brought eggs, hash browns, bacon, ham, pancakes, toast, and even waffles." That last item gave her an idea. She took up a waffle and folded it over in one hand, then spoke through it like a sock puppet. _"Oi, Mimi,"_ she said through the waffle, _"Eggo wo hanashimasu ka?"*_

Mimi was silent in spite of Amanda's laughter. "That's not funny, Amanda," she said.

"Oh, lighten up," she said. "Are you still mad about last night?"

"Palmon and I are going to look for the boys."

Amanda dropped the waffle. "What? You can't do that! I promised we'd stay for lunch!"

"Well, that was _your_ promise," Mimi replied, giving her a sly smile. "Besides, we'll be back in time for lunch. We just want to look around. Maybe we could find something that Aristomon's servants couldn't find."

Amanda folded her arms. "Fine. Go ahead. Penguinmon and I will stay here and have fun in the mansion. We'll see you at lunch."

For the first time, however, Penguinmon looked conflicted. "Uh, I don't know, Amanda," he said. "They might need someone with a better sense of smell to track down the others. I mean, Palmon doesn't have a nose, and... well, maybe I should go with them."

Amanda, utterly bewildered, looked to her partner like he'd just flipped his lid. "You'd rather go stomping through the jungle than stay here with me."

"It's not like that. I don't really want to," Penguinmon said, "but I think I should anyway. We ought to get to work."

"Fine, do what you want," Amanda snapped. "But I'm staying here."

"Amanda, don't be like that—"

"Like what? I don't care. I'm fine. Just fine. Go on. Go ahead and go." She looked to them expectantly. "I said _go!"_ she shouted.

The three of them looked to each other, then turned and left. Amanda sulkily continued stuffing her face until there was another knock on the door. She looked up at the sound hopefully.

"Did you decide to come back, Penguinmon?" she asked.

The door opened to reveal Aristomon.

"Oh," she said. "I'm sorry, I thought… well, it doesn't matter."

"Did you enjoy breakfast, Lady Giroux?" he asked.

"Yes, it was delicious!" she replied.

"I'm glad." He looked around. "Where are your companions? Didn't your partner and Lady Tachikawa want breakfast?"

"She's no Lady," Amanda grumbled.

"Pardon?"

"It's nothing," she said. "Anyway, they decided to go looking for the boys."

Aristomon's eyes went wide. He looked very nervous all of a sudden and the complacent smile he usually wore was screwed up into a distinct wince. "They left? Already? This— this can't be! You promised—"

"Oh, don't worry," she said, puzzled by his unnatural panic. "They'll be back in time for lunch. I guess it's just you and me for now."

Aristomon seemed relieved. "Well, if you're sure they're returning. In the meantime, I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor."

"Of course," she said. "What is it?"

"Well, you and Mimi and the first humans I've had the pleasure of meeting and I'd like to remember the occasion. I was wondering if I could get some pictures to remember you by after you leave."

Amanda was genuinely touched. "You want pictures? Of _me?"_ Nobody had ever asked for her picture before.

"Yes, of course. You are a unique and beautiful creature. I would hate to let you go without a memento."

* * *

Mimi and the two digimon made their way through the forest. It was still early in the morning and the whole of the mountainside was still enshrouded in mist. The foliage of the area was practically dripping wet and Palmon as a plant and Penguinmon as a waterfowl were both enjoying it immensely. Mimi wanted to complain, but she was intent on proving to herself and to the other two that she could go on without being a pampered little brat.

"Mimi, why are we going this way?" Palmon asked. "This way leads back to the crash site."

"I know," Mimi said. "But I thought about it when we left: when the piece of Sky City crashed, it caught on fire. The boys might have seen the smoke from it and come that way. Maybe we could check to see if they went there."

"That's a great idea, Mimi!" Palmon said.

"Yeah, that might work," Penguinmon agreed.

Mimi was very pleased with herself, but the feeling was short-lived. The three of them only walked a few more steps when there was a sudden snap and the three of them were hoisted roughly off the ground. When it was over, they found themselves ensnared in a net.

"Hey, what's going on?" Palmon demanded.

It was then that a pair of Bakemon emerged from the woods.

"Ha ha! We've caught you now, Digidestined!" said the first.

"We've been waiting for you," said the second, reeling back as if for an attack.

"Wait, it's us!" Mimi cried.

The Bakemon froze. "Oh," said one. "Lady Tachikawa. We didn't realize it was you. We thought you were—"

"Someone else!" the other interjected. "Yes, we thought you were, uh, intruders trying to rob our master. Yes, master Aristomon wants us to watch out for burglers. But we have strict orders to find your friends and bring them to the manor _completely unharmed._ In the meantime, is there anything we can do for you?"

Mimi nodded.

"Yes? What is it you want?"

"I'd really like it if you got us down," Mimi said.

The Bakemon rushed to cut the net down, apologizing profusely.

Mimi and the others went ahead, eyeing them suspiciously as they continued on.

"What was that about?" Penguinmon asked.

"I'm not sure," Mimi replied. "But I've got a really bad feeling about this all of a sudden."

* * *

The crash site was exactly as they had left it. The fires had burned out by now, but the wreckage looked otherwise undisturbed. Penguinmon said that he didn't detect the scent of any of the others, so they probably hadn't been there. Mimi was beginning to question her idea about them seeing the fire. Maybe they hadn't after all.

_Or maybe they didn't survive their fall._

Mimi pushed the thought out of mind. They had to assume that they had survived as well. The only problem was how to let the boys know where they were. They might have left footprints from yesterday, but Mimi was no tracker and she wasn't sure that any of the boys, even Jin, could track them back to Aristomon's manor. They needed a better way to leave a trail.

It was then that Mimi got her second good idea of the day.

She reached inside the small bag of supplies she had taken with her and rummaged around inside. It was only a few of their survival items, but among them Mimi found the item she needed. It seemed so superfluous that she had packed it in there, but it now had a very practical purpose.

"What's that, Mimi?" Palmon asked, seeing her partner retrieve a small bottle.

"My perfume," she answered, giving a knowing wink. She lifted her chin and sprayed a generous amount on her neck. Then, considering things a moment longer, sprayed a small cloud of it around the area.

"What are you doing that for?" Penguinmon asked, coughing at the sweet but overpowering aroma.

"If your sense of smell is good enough to know if the boys were here, then I'll bet Scarmon will be able to follow the smell of my perfume back to Aristomon's manor."

Penguinmon blinked. "That's... that's actually a great idea!" he said, impressed. Then somewhat abashedly, he added, "I'm sorry for laughing at you last night. I guess I just got caught up with everything. Neither Amanda nor I are used to that kind of lifestyle. You're not dumb and I'm sorry we both made you feel bad."

"That's okay," Mimi said. "I know I'm not the sharpest tool on the Christmas tree."

Penguinmon narrowed his eyes. "Riiiight."

* * *

Afterwards, the three of them stood outside the door to Aristomon's manor. Mimi was about to open it, when Penguinmon said, "Hold on."

"What is it, Penguinmon?" Mimi asked.

"Something's not right," he said. "Do either of you two really think those Bakemon back there were watching out for burglars. They thought we were the guys and then made up that burglar story to cover for it."

"Well, I've never met very many Bakemon that were that bright," Palmon said. "Maybe they thought a net would be a good way to catch the boys, too."

"Then why did it look like they going to attack until they found out it was Mimi?" he asked.

"But I don't get it," Mimi said. "Why would the Bakemon want to hurt them?"

Penguinmon looked to the manor suspiciously. "Maybe they don't want to find the others and bring them back safely. Maybe Aristomon really is searching for them, but not to bring them here."

Mimi didn't like the idea. Aristomon had been so kind ever since they arrived, so why would he want to hurt their friends? Why would he treat them so nicely?

Then she remembered another occasion that reminded her of this situation. It was back on File Island years ago. She and the other six original Digidestined had found that house in the woods, with food, and beds, and baths… and it had been a trick to lull them into a sense of false security by Devimon. Her long experience in the Digital World had given her a lot to draw on and she'd developed an extra sense about things here, not unlike Jin, in fact. Maybe they had been treated so nicely so they would never suspect that Aristomon really wasn't their friend.

Mimi didn't want to believe that. It was part of her personality to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. If she was going to believe Aristomon was their enemy, she needed proof.

"Okay, here's what we do," she told the two digimon. "We're going in there and we're going to look around to see if we can find anything suspicious."

"Like what?" Penguinmon asked.

"I don't know, we'll just look around and try not to let Aristomon know that we're back yet."

They all agreed and entered the massive house.

It was very still inside. The main hall opened wide before them and they could go anywhere in the whole house from there. The only problem was that there was just too much house to look over in such a short time. They didn't have much time before Aristomon would be expecting them back and then he would get suspicious.

"Where do we look first?" Palmon asked.

"We got a tour of the entire house, right?" Penguinmon said. "Maybe we could check to see if there's any part of the house Aristomon didn't show us."

They thought for a few moments, but it seemed like they had gone to so many rooms that there simply couldn't have been anything they hadn't seen. It wasn't until Penguinmon turned his thoughts to his partner that he got an idea.

"Hey, I remember something," Penguinmon said. "Amanda wanted to see what was behind one of those doors over in the West wing, but he said it was just a closet."

"You want us to check out the closet?" Mimi asked skeptically.

"Are you saying you've never hid anything in the closet?" Palmon asked, crossing her arms. "I think I remember being stuffed in there before you told your parents about me."

"Oh, right," Mimi said, somewhat embarassed. "Well, let's try it."

They made their way to the west wing and turned a corner near their destination. They froze when they saw Aristomon engaged in a discussion with one of his Bakemon servants. They appeared to be looking over a set of photgraphs. They hid inside one of the nearby rooms and peeked outside, listening carefully.

"I just can't decide between these two poses," Aristomon was saying. "They both look natural and either one would look fine."

"I really think we should make a decision quickly, sir," the servant said. "After all, once it is done, there's only a little bit of time when they're still viable."

"Of course, but this is a rare opportunity. It must be done today, after lunch. Maybe I could do something to the food. That might be the best way to do it."

Mimi wasn't liking this. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but the mention of lunch and doing something to the food sounded ominous. Then again, for all she knew it meant that he was going to add a special ingredient to make it taste better. But why where they talking about photos?

"I have a suggestion, master," the Bakemon said. "Since there are two, we could use both poses. We'll put one in the first, the second in the other."

"Oh, that's an excellent idea!" he exclaimed. "Well, I'll have a talk with the chefs. I'll leave it to you to work out the details after it is done."

The two of them parted and Aristomon walked past them, not noticing that he was being watched intently by three pairs of eyes.

"There's something really wrong about this," Mimi said. There was that feeling of malaise deep in the pit of her stomach that signaled something was amiss. Even so, she felt compelled to find out exactly what Aristomon was talking about. They went over to the table where Aristomon had set down the photographs he was looking at.

"Hey, these are pictures of Amanda," Mimi said. There were several photos of the girl striking different poses. One, for example, was of her sitting down and reading a book, while another was of her blowing a kiss to the camera.

"Oh, Amanda," Penguinmon sighed, covering his face with a flipper embarassedly.

"Why did he want pictures of Amanda?" Palmon asked. "And what does he mean when he's trying to pick a pose?"

"Let's keep going," Mimi said determinedly. They stealthily continued down the hall until they arrived at the "closet" in the West wing.

"This is the door?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Penguinmon said. "Let's check it out."

Mimi turned the knob. "It's locked."

_"Super Slap!"_ Penguinmon attacked, smashing in the lock, causing the door to open just a crack.

"You're going to feel awful silly if that turns out to be just a broom closet," Palmon said.

Mimi wasted no time. She opened the door wide.

"That's no broom closet," Penguinmon said. The other two nodded.

It was a staircase. Now Mimi wondered if the manor had another floor. A house that big might have an attic, after all, or something similar. In any case, she began to climb the stairs, following it as it curved upward in a steep spiral. They went up a floor and found a second door. Mimi turned the knob and found this one unlocked. She opened it and could see nothing but pitch blackness in the room before her. She shivered, suddenly feeling very afraid of what was in those shadows.

"Mimi?" Palmon asked.

"I'm all right," she said. She took a deep breath and walked inside. Once inside, she felt the wall near the door, grasping blindly until her hand found the familiar shape of a light switch. She flicked it on. What she saw made her cry out in fear.

What she saw was a gigantic snake with its mouth wide open, preparing to strike at her from its place on a branch. She was both momentarily terrified by its dead, black eyes.

It wasn't until the snake had remained still for a few seconds that she realized that it wasn't real. It was perfectly still, and she noted its beautiful coat which was adorned not with scales, but with shiny teal feathers that ran the length of its body.

"What is it?" she asked, her heart still beating rapidly.

"It says it right here on this engraving on the pedestal," Penguinmon said. "It says 'FEATHERED SERPENT'."

"And it's not the only thing here," Palmon added. They all went and had a look.

The room was long and very wide. It looked to take up the whole top floor of the house. There were no windows, nor was there any furniture. The only things that the room contained, in fact, were displays, all on similar short, wooden pedestals.

There was at least a hundred, probably even more in this secret collection of Aristomon's. Each one was a strange-looking creature unlike any they had ever seen. There was an elk that stood ten feet tall with antlers that spread out like tree branches. There was a large lizard with orange eyes and a mouth that divided its head vertically. They had names like GUG and LONG-HAIRED ASURA and FOLDERIAN PARROT. These bizzarre monsters were all over and they each had their own pedestal and engraving which named them. And they were all dead, frozen in position and on display in this gallery.

"What is this?" Mimi asked.

"I think I know," Palmon said, her voice shaking. "Look what I found."

Mimi and Penguinmon walked over and saw what she was looking at. It was a very familiar-looking animal. It resembled a tiger and its similar name was on the pedestal upon which it stood: LIGER.

"So that's what happened to the other one," Mimi said. "It died and he had it stuffed."

"It looks pretty young," Palmon said. "Maybe… maybe he killed it himself. Maybe that's why the one that's still alive doesn't like him."

It was then that they heard Penguinmon gasp. He had walked over to another pedestal nearby. Mimi and Palmon came over, noticing that this pedestal was empty.

"What is it, Penguinmon?" Mimi asked. Then she saw the engraving on the pedestal. It had one single word in bold letters and this one word made everything fall into place. She felt weak in her knees and her hand went to her mouth to stifle the cry of horror that nearly escaped from her lips.

This was the word: HUMANS.

* * *

Amanda brushed her hair and admired herself in the mirror. The photo shoot had been fun. She felt a little silly striking all those poses, but Aristomon had laughed right along with her. She'd never felt so beautiful in her entire life and the feeling was addictive. She hoped that the guys would agree to spend a little time there before they all had to go on their way. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said.

The door opened to reveal Mimi, Palmon, and Penguinmon. They all looked shaken.

"Oh, you're back. It's almost lunchtime, you know."

"We can't stay!" Mimi said. "We have to leave now!"

Amanda sneered. "You don't give up, do you?"

"We don't have time to fight," Mimi said. "We have to leave or else he's going to kill us!"

Amanda blinked. "Who?"

"Aristomon!" they said in unison.

"That's crazy!" she laughed. "He's our friend. He just spent a half hour taking pictures of me so he can remember me when we're gone."

"We know about the pictures," Mimi said. "We have them." She reached into her bag and removed them, holding them up as proof.

"Why do you have them?" she demanded.

"Because he wanted to figure out the best way to pose you and Mimi," Palmon said.

"What? I don't understand—"

"Amanda, listen!" Mimi cried. "He's going to kill us and have us stuffed like we were in a museum or a hunting lodge and keep us in his attic."

Amanda blinked. She couldn't believe what they were saying. She had thought that Aristomon wanted pictures of her because she was pretty and they were friends. Now she had gone from being a beautiful girl to being a taxidermy project. It was insane. It was downright sick. There was no way it could be the truth.

"I… I don't believe you," she said.

"Amanda, please—"

"No!" she cried. "You're lying!"

"No we're not!" Penguinmon shouted. He went to her and looked her in the eyes. "Amanda, I've known you most of my life. My only reason for being here is to protect you. I've never lied to you and I didn't want to believe any of this either. But I saw his collection with my own eyes. You're smart: you know he collects rare things and the rarest creatures in the Digital World are humans. Once he's had his fun, he's going to finish us off. So think about what you know about me and what you know about Aristomon. Who do you believe?"

Amanda was silent for a minute. She cocked her head to one side and stared at them all as if she was seeing things in a new light. Suddenly this room, this house, and all these nice things seemed somewhat lackluster. It was as if she had been seeing things without her glasses, but had put them on and now saw everything clearly.

"Okay. I'll pack my bags."

Penguinmon breathed a sigh of relief as Amanda went and stuffed all her things into her bag as quickly as she could.

* * *

When she finished, they carefully made their way down the hall toward the front door. Hopefully they would be able to leave before anyone took notice. The manor seemed perfectly quiet, the usual sound of Aristomon's servants doing their regular chores curiously absent. They didn't have time to worry about it, however, and went to the main hall, going down the stairs from the second floor onto the main floor.

"We're home free," Penguinmon sighed with relief. They moved for the door.

"Going somewhere?" a familiar voice asked. They turned and saw Aristomon leaning calmly against the wall, his tranquil smile stuck on his face as if it had been glued there. "I thought we were going to have lunch."

"We just thought we'd bring our bags down," Mimi said. "If you go to the dining room, we'll be there in just a few minutes!"

"Oh, really?" Aristomon said, looking very unconvinced. "I don't think you're planning to stay for lunch anymore."

"No, no, we are," Amanda said. "Just give us a minute and—"

"Silence!" he spat, dropping his smile in favor of a cruel sneer. "I found the door to my trophy room smashed open. You left the lights on. There's no point in pretending any longer."

Amanda clenched her fists. "It really is true. I believed my friends, but it looks like they didn't even exaggerate a bit. I really thought you cared about me, and you made me feel appreciated, but..." she stared at him hatefully. "You just took those pictures so you could see how we would looked after we'd been stuffed!"

"Stuffed? I wouldn't do that." He chuckled. "I was going to have you freeze-dried." He raised his fingers to his lips and let fly a whistle so loud it echoed throughout the entire house. In a few seconds, all the Bakemon servants in his household appeared, surrounding them, barring all the exits. There were dozens of them crowding the main hall and each of them had their eyes focused on the four of them.

"Why are you doing this?" Palmon asked, putting herself before Mimi.

"It should be obvious, shouldn't it?" Aristomon asked. "You know how I love rare creatures. You humans are such marvelous creatures, too. Intelligent, like us digimon, but fragile and weak, like the smallest, most defenseless animals. So strange and paradoxical. I really did enjoy having you here, and I would love to keep you as part of my living collection. Yes, if only you could be my adorable pets." He sighed. "But I knew you'd never stay here forever willingly, and, what's more, my master wants you dead. Therefore, since you have to die, you should take pleasure in knowing that I will be appreciating your beauty for years to come."

"You're sick," Amanda said, looking utterly revolted.

Aristomon merely chuckled and spread his wings, floating up to the top floor and perching on the railing of the stairs. "You two are so full of life. I only hope that you will still look it when you are dead. Go ahead, Bakemon. Get rid of the digimon, but be careful with the two humans; I want their carcasses intact."

Penguinmon looked to Palmon. "I think this is our cue." Palmon nodded.

_"Penguinmon digivolve to… Frigimon!"_

_"Palmon digivolve to… Togemon!"_

_"Togemon digivolve to… Lilymon!"_

The two of them tried to form a shield for Mimi and Amanda, but the Bakemon began to encircle them, making it unclear from which direction the attack would come. Lilymon spotted one that was about to make a move and blasted it away with her Flower Cannon, only to be hit from another side with a Dark Claw attack.

"We're outnumbered," Lilymon said. "If I attack one side, they'll just come at me from another!"

"I don't think I'm fast enough to cover Amanda if they attack together," Frigimon replied. "This doesn't look good."

"If you have any last requests, you had better give them voice now," Aristomon said.

"Yeah, I'd like to request backup!" Amanda cried.

Then they all heard a strange noise. They paused to look around for it. It was an odd creaking noise and now they also heard some kind of murmuring. They all looked up and realized that whatever was making the noise was on the roof.

Aristomon cocked his head to one side. "What in the world?"

There was a further creak and a groan and suddenly the ceiling caved in, letting Seadramon and Quemamon spill into the main hall. Jin, Michael, and Ángel, who were riding on Seadramon's back, all fell in a heap in front of them.

"I told you we should have used the door!" Jin shouted. "What kind of plan is hiding on top of the house anyway?"

"Guys!" Amanda exclaimed.

"Don't worry, we've come to rescue you," Michael said, rubbing his side from where he fell. "We ran into some Bakemon on the way up here, so we thought they must have caught you too. But it looks like we got rid of them!" He gave them a thumbs up.

"Uh, I don't think that was all of them," Ángel said, tapping Michael on the shoulder, pointing to the small army of Bakemon floating around the room.

"Well, we took the others out and we can take on these guys, too," Quemamon said confidently. "I wonder what loser these guys work for."

"I beg your pardon?" Aristomon shouted. "Who are you and what have you done to my house?"

"Hey, who's the freak with the wings?" Jin asked the two girls.

"Freak?" Aristomon shouted, now absolutely livid. "I am Aristomon, the lord of this house and one of the greatest warriors of the Digital World."

Michael looked him over. "No offense, but we just defeated Volcanomon and you don't even look as strong as him."

"You little brats defeated Volcanomon?" Aristomon stood aghast. "By yourselves?"

"Wait a minute," Jin interrupted. "I know who you are. A few years back, Scarmon and I went through this town that had its museum robbed. They said that it was done by this wannabe aristocrat. They told us all about you," he laughed. "They said that you used to be a noble, but that your family wasted its money and you couldn't take being poor so you turned to being a common thief. I never did hear what happened to you, but I'll bet that almost everything in this house is stolen. Probably the house, too."

The veins in Aristomon's forehead were throbbing. "You miserable little fool," he said. "Those riches should have been mine. They were mine by birthright. My family had no business giving them away. So, I took these things from those less worthy of having them and made them my own. Your friends, for example, are unworthy to keep their lives, so I must take them."

The boys looked back to the girls, who both nodded.

"So," continued Aristomon, "for my own honor and for the honor of the other Eight Gods, I'll see each of you destroyed! Bakemon, attack!"

The Bakemon charged, but they now had too many targets to overwhelm. A group charged Quemamon, but he saw them coming a mile away.

"Don't make me laugh," Quemamon said. _"Scorched Earth!"_ The attack sent the wall of flame upon the Bakemon, incinerating them in seconds and continuing on to crash into the far wall, setting the furniture and tapestries hung on the wall on fire.

"NO!" Aristmon screamed, seeing his valuables destroyed. "Bakemon, halt!" The servants obeyed. "So, you're a fiery digimon. I see. I won't allow you to burn my valuables. You'll have to take it outside. All you Bakemon, take care of that pyromaniac!"

The Bakemon all banded together and formed a massive wall that rushed Quemamon and smashed through the front of the manor, taking him into the yard outside.

"Augh! My door!" Aristomon cried. "Ah, well. It's a small price to pay to save the rest of the house. Now, as for the rest of you," he said, addressing Lilymon, Seadramon, and Frigimon, "I'll take care of you myself."

"You think you'll be okay without me and Ángel?" Jin asked. "We're going to keep an eye on Quemamon."

"Good luck," Michael said, letting them leave.

Aristomon lifted himself up in the air, hovering as he beat his gray wings. "Even if you defeated the first four Eight Gods, you'll never defeat the better half of us."

Lilymon took to the air as well. "We're not afraid of you," she said. "It's hard to be scared of someone who'd probably cry if he broke a nail in a fight."

"You insult me?" Aristomon dashed for her. _"Wing Beat!"_

Lilymon was very quick and good with evasive aerial maneuvers, but even she was unprepared for the speed of Aristomon's dash and then the rapid blows of his wings as he thrashed her with one, then the other, and so on in a spinning torrent of attacks. His wings were both immensely powerful and he moved with such grace one could almost believe he was merely dancing. But the grace of his movement did nothing to mask the brutality of the attacks and the pummels of his wings left her too dizzy to counterattack. He finished with a final slam that knocked her into the wall.

_"Nobleman's Blades!"_ Reaching into his coat, he removed four daggers and flung them at Lilymon, pinning each of her four wings to the wall.

"Lilymon!" Mimi cried. "Are you okay?"

"I can't move!" she answered, struggling to free herself.

"You know, you look like an insect in a collection, pinned down like that," Aristomon laughed.

_"Snowball Attack!"_

His laughter cut off when Frigimon's snowball smacked him hard in the face, knocking him back only slightly. With as much dignity as he could muster, he wiped it from his face.

"You'll suffer for that," he growled. _"Wing Beat!"_

Frigimon's hardened body may have been better equipped than Lilymon's to take the powerful blows, but even he crumpled to his knees after being thrashed so soundly.

Aristomon then turned his attention to Seadramon. "You don't really think you can win, do you?" he asked.

_"Ice Breaker!"_ Seadramon attacked, lashing his tail at Aristomon, who dodged it easily. However, even though Seadramon missed Aristomon, his tail managed to smash a suit of armor on display in the nearby corner.

"No!" Aristmon screamed with rage. "Do you know how long it took to find that? _Nobleman's Blades!"_

The veritable rain of blades pierced the length of Seadramon's body and he coiled himself inward in pain.

"Seadramon, are you okay?" Michael called to his partner.

"I… don't think… I can fight, Michael," Seadramon groaned, his breath ragged and obviously pained.

"Well, now that your guardians have been taken care of, it's time I dealt with you humans." Aristomon looked to the three children and reached inside his coat for a blade.

Amanda looked around for a weapon amid all of Aristomon's precious junk. Then she realized that the junk _itself_ could be used.

"Frigimon, can you still fight?" she called.

"Yeah, but I don't have much strength left."

"Take out that vase over there!"

Frigimon was confused for a moment, then figured out her plan. "No problem. _Snowball Attack!"_

Aristomon watched in horror as Frigimon launched another high-speed snowball at the expensive looking vase standing on a thin wooden stand. He rushed and caught the snowball right before it hit its target.

"Are you insane?" he demanded. "That vase was valued at—"

"Say goodbye to that case full of antique China!" Frigimon yelled, aiming another snowball.

Aristomon dove and caught the next snowball as well, just before it smashed a cabinet lined with the ornate dishes.

"Keep that up, Frigimon!" Amanda said.

"Okay, but you three go for cover until Lilymon, Seadramon, or Quemamon can back me up!"

Amanda and Michael did as they were told, finding a large table and turning it over, using it as a shield. Mimi was about to join them when she looked up and saw Lilymon still struggling to free herself from the wall.

"I'm going to help Lilymon," she said. "If I get her free, maybe we can beat him instead of just keeping him busy!"

The two nodded and ducked behind the table.

"I feel so stupid," Amanda muttered, listening to Frigimon keep Aristomon busy.

"Why is that?" Michael asked.

"I let Aristomon dupe me with all the nice things around here. I mean, I want to live this well, but I shouldn't have let it blind me. Mimi, Palmon, and Penguinmon… I really treated them badly."

Michael nodded. "I know what you mean. Sometimes I think all my father ever thinks about is money. Then again, I'm not exactly innocent." When Amanda looked at him questioningly, he explained. "Ángel talked to me yesterday and I realized that I've been harsh on Jin partly because of his poor background. I've been an idiot for treating him like gutter trash. So, I know. It's easy to think you can judge people so easily. It doesn't make it right, though."

Amanda sighed. "I guess I've been on the other side of it too. I let money blind me and I used to think that you were just a snotty rich kid, albeit a really cute one."

"Uh… thanks, I guess."

They ducked instinctively as another antique was destroyed by a snowball and Aristomon howled with rage.

"I get the feeling I've really been acting like the baby of the group."

"You are."

"I know I'm the youngest," she said, somewhat annoyed, "but that doesn't mean I have a right to act that way. Penguinmon told me back on Sky City that I treat everything like it's a game, like nothing's real. Well, now I'm hiding from a crazed, elitest monster that wants me dead so he can freeze-dry my body and put it on display."

"Ew," Michael said, making a face.

"And I might not act like it," she said, shivering suddenly, "but I'm really scared we won't get out of this alive. I want to go home. I miss my family and I'm worried that he's going to hurt you or Mimi or the rest of you guys. I just…" She got choked up then, and looked like she was about to cry.

Michael saw that the stress of the situation was getting to her. "It's okay," he assured her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Just wait and soon we won't have anything to worry about."

It was then that Frigimon came flying over them, catching the table with his foot and pulling it away, leaving the two of them exposed. Frigimon slammed into Seadramon and slumped where he sat, barely even awake. Mimi, who was trying her best to climb up a curtain nearby Lilymon, saw this and froze with fear.

"I knew I'd find an opening sooner or later," Aristomon said, brushing snow from his hands. "But really, that was a pathetic display. Did you really think you could defeat a creature as noble as I?"

"Noble?" Michael exclaimed. "What makes you noble? There's nothing noble about being a common thug!"

"You dare to—"

"Y-yeah, that's right!" Amanda added, standing up. _Oh, dear god, why am I doing this?_ she thought. Out loud she added, "You're not noble! You're just a rich playboy with too much junk for his own good!"

"And if you think you're noble because of your family, you're wrong there, too!" Michael shouted, growing bolder. "I've learned that nobility isn't something you're born with!"

Aristomon looked them both over. "Well, aren't you two a pair?" he guffawed. "Perhaps after I have you preserved I'll display you next to each other. Well, then... tell me, what is true nobility, if you know so much?"

"True nobility is when you stop thinking only about yourself and the things you want," Michael answered.

"If you'd ever risked your life to help someone else, maybe you'd know what that feels like!" Amanda exclaimed.

Amanda and Michael narrowed their eyes. Then, as if in a single voice they shouted, "Being noble means caring more about other people than you care about yourself!"

The two of them looked to each other, astonished that they had just spoken the same words together. Suddenly, it seemed like one knew the other, and that, more than that, in some way they were no longer one person, but two, united by a single mindframe. And it was then that they heard a beeping sound, and noticed their digivices had both activated.

"Seadramon?" Frigimon asked, noticing that he had started to glow. "I think I'm getting my second wind. How about you, buddy?"

Seadramon felt the pain of the blades in his side ebbing away. "Yeah, me too. I think it's time to finish this guy off."

The two of them began to glow brighter, then their two forms faded, mingling and merging into one. The light became brighter and the form began to grow much larger.

_"Frigimon…"_

_"Seadramon…"_

_"DNA digivolve to…"_

Mimi closed her eyes, unable to take the light. However, she felt a sudden chill upon her and, when the light subsided, she saw that she could see her own breath coming in gusts of steam. She looked to the center of the room and saw what had formed from what had once been Frigimon and Seadramon.

The creature was immense. It took up almost the whole of the main hall, its long body curving around it, encircling Aristomon on all sides. It had the appearance of a dragon straight out of a Chinese legend. Each of its four feet had long curving claws and a pair of long, slender wiskers dangled from its snout. It had large, blue eyes and its body was covered with whitish blue chrystalline scales. When it moved, there was a faint crackling sound, like the almost imperceptible sound of a glacier grinding against the earth. It was a creature of pure ice and it lowered the temperature of the room by ten degrees with its mere presence.

_"…Freezedramon!"_ it roared, its guttural voice rattling the walls.

"Wow," Amanda said.

"That's our partner," Michael gasped, in awe of the size and majesty of this new digivolution.

Aristomon looked frightened for the first time. "You may have become more powerful," he said, taking flight, "but I am still the superior digimon!"

Freezedramon snorted, his icy breath blasting Aristomon back several feet. "Then prove it."

_"Nobleman's Blades!"_ The daggers shot through the air too fast to see, but everyone heard them clatter against Freezedramon's scaly hide as they bounced off and fell lamely to the floor.

Freezedramon said nothing, but his look of contempt spoke volumes.

"I'll shatter you!" Aristomon screamed, rushing forward. _"Wing Beat!"_

Again he launched into a rapid thrashing of his wings, pounding against Freezedramon with all his might, the loud _thunk_ of his wings echoing with each blow. Finally, breathing hard and his wings covered in frost, he floated backwards to examine his work. He gawked when he saw he had done nothing. There wasn't even a scratch on him.

"I let you have two freebies," Freezedramon said. "That was more than fair. Now I'll show you what happens to anyone who threatens my partners."

Aristomon looked around frantically. He saw Mimi struggling to free Lilymon. Seeing at least one possible target, he swooped down towards her.

"Mimi!" Lilymon cried, seeing their adversary coming for her partner.

"Freezedramon!" Michael and Amanda shouted.

_"Ice Scales!"_ Freezedramon howled. He gave a quick shake of his body and a flurry of the ice scales shot through the air like large blades. The first few simply sliced into Aristomon's back, which hurt him severely, but didn't stop him. The ones following them, however, shot right alongside him and sliced off both wings at his shoulders. Now as aerodynamic as a rock, he fell to the ground, smashing the marble floor from the force of impact.

He looked up at Freezedramon hatefully. "I will not surrender!" he shouted, his voice cracking and maniacal. "Common scum! You're all just _things_ to be placed in my collection!"

Freezedramon had heard enough from this lunatic._ "Breath of the Winter God!"_ he roared, rearing his head back and unleashing from his mouth a torrent of freezing wind and jagged chunks of ice and snow. Amanda and Michael had to shield themselves from the blast which poured down upon Aristomon. When it was over, they peered over at their foe. Now, he had a look of horror frozen on his face, his eyes frosted over and his frozen body riddled with the sharp chunks of ice.

"He almost looks like he's on display, frozen like that," Amanda said quietly.

"Except no one would want to see him again." Having said this, Freezedramon raised one foot and simply stomped on what was left Aristomon, shattering him to bits.

Just then, an battered and exhausted Quemamon walked in where the front door had formerly stood. "Okay... I took care of the Bakemon," he panted. "Now... where's the guy with the wings?"

He was met with stares from Amanda, Mimi, and Michael and then he finally noticed Freezedramon.

"Okay, what did I miss?"

* * *

A short while afterward, the group of ten, now reunited, began their trek back down the mountain. They were dead tired, especially the digimon, and they mostly kept quiet.

"Uh, Mimi?" Michael asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes, Michael?"

"I'm glad you're all right. We were all worried about you," he told her, managing not to blush, offering her a gentle smile. "All of you."

Mimi smiled back. "We were worried about you guys too. How did you find us, by the way?"

"Oh, well-"

"Michael and Jin smelled your perfume," Ángel said.

Michael blushed, but was brought out of it by Mimi suddenly cheering. "It worked! I left that there so you guys could follow us!"

Amanda smiled. "That was clever." Then, looking down, she added, "I'm sorry, Mimi. I really messed up this time. You're actually way more experienced and smart than I gave you credit for." She looked to Penguinmon, who was asleep as she carried him under one arm.

Mimi returned Amanda's smile. "It's okay, Amanda. I'm glad you came around."

"So you all missed us?" Amanda asked of the boys.

Ángel nodded. "Of course. We... we missed you very much."

Amanda turned to Jin before she had a chance to see Ángel's cheeks redden. "Is that so? Even you, my little Jinny the Pooh?"

Jin scowled at her. "First of all, don't ever call me that again," he said, "and second, any sympathy you might have got went out the window when I found out that while we were climbing up and down mountains and eating baked beans out of cans we opened with rocks, you were getting the royal treatment from the guy Freezedramon iced back there."

"Well, he did turn out to be a big meanie in the end," Mimi reminded him.

"Yeah, so how about some sympathy now?" Amanda asked, glomping onto his arm.

"Forget it," he said, taking his arm back and purposefully walking ahead of her. "I think the caviar that sicko fed you must have gone to your brain."

Amanda fumed. "Yeah, well Aristomon may have been a sicko," she yelled after him, "but at least _he_ knew how to treat a lady!"

**To be con-**

_"HAHAHAHA!"_

They all looked and saw that Mimi was laughing.

"Mimi?" Michael asked cautiously. "What is it?"

"Oh my god _haha_ I just... I just _hahaha_.. I just got it!" she gasped, tears rolling from her eyes as she held her belly.

They all stared at her. "Got... what?" Amanda asked.

"She threw away the W's! Those weren't W's! _HAHAHAHA!"_

**To be continued...**

*This is a play on words for you Japanese/English speakers. "Eggo" is, of course, a brand of waffle, but it sounds identical to _eego_ or _eigo_, which means "English." So the sentence, when heard, could mean either "Do you speak English?" or "Do you speak waffle?"

_(Next time: The gang is back together and they finally get a chance to rest. But one of them finds the past catching up and shares a tale of heartache.)_

_P.S. Do you enjoy upside-down M&Ms? Me too! Leave a **review** for this story, the fanfic that melts in your brain, not in your hand!_


	13. Loco Dominguez

**Chapter Twelve:**

**Loco Dominguez**

As they made campfire that night, each of them felt a sense of accomplishment. It felt like things were going by very quickly. It seemed to take an eternity to go on the road trip that led them to Ángel and their encounter with MetalNumemon had first introduced them to these Eight Gods they were supposed to vanquish. It had been a challenge and it had been tiring, and yet in just four days they had eliminated five of Eight Gods. That left only three remaining.

_This is great,_ Amanda thought. _Just three more of these guys to go. Now we have three Ultimate level digimon on our side and Freezedramon seems like the most powerful one yet! If we keep this up, we can get rid of the rest of them, save Folder, and go home by the end of the week!_

"No, we can't!" Ángel cried with sudden intensity. "Have you forgotten that we did not come to beat the Eight Gods? We can't leave until we stop the Ancient Enemy!"

The rest of them looked to Ángel curiously. "What are you talking about?" Jin demanded. "Nobody even said anything!"

"But… but Amanda… she—"

"Amanda didn't say anything," Michael said. "She was just sitting here."

Amanda scowled. "Michael's right. I didn't say anything, but I was _thinking_ about something."

Everyone looked to Ángel suspiciously.

"I… I'm sorry."

"You should be," Amanda said, looking indignant. "That's really creepy. What kind of freak goes around probing people's thoughts anyway?"

Ángel looked especially cut by that question. "Amanda, I... I'm sorry." He looked down, unable to face her. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he got up and walked away.

"Oh, _muchas gracias para nada, perrita!"_ Muchomon angrily shouted at Amanda as he followed his partner.

The rest of them sat in silence, a bit stunned by how much this had upset the both of them.

"I think you touched a nerve, Amanda," Michael said.

"No kidding," Jin agreed. "You don't want to know what Muchomon just called you."

"What did he say?" she asked.

Scarmon was more than happy to say, but Jin clapped his hands over his mouth before he could.

"Even if I did upset him," she went on, "he deserves it. I don't want someone reading my thoughts! I could have been thinking about... well, th-that's not important! It's about privacy!"

"Maybe so," Mimi said, "but I think we really hurt his feelings. I don't think he meant to do that." She stood up. "I'm not going to just sit here and let Ángel think we don't care that he's upset. I'm going to talk to him. Who's coming with me?"

"I will!" Palmon said.

The others looked more than a little reluctant and each of them looked away.

"Jin? You're his DNA-digivolving partner!"

"Yeah," Jin said, "but... well, it's a guy thing. I don't really do 'heart-to-heart' stuff anyway."

She looked to Michael. "I know he's helped us, including me," Michael said, "but I'm actually with Jin on this one. I'm not really sure what to say to him."

Amanda folded her arms. "And I'm still pissed at him," she muttered. The digimon looked to be siding with their partners, so there was no help there.

"Fine," Mimi sighed. "Palmon and I will talk to him ourselves."

* * *

_"Ángel, no te preocupes,"_ Muchomon was saying. _"Está bien, está bien."_

_"No!"_ Ángel cried. _"Es la verdad. Soy anormal... siempre anormal."_

"Ángel?" Mimi called, following him into the seclusion of the woods. "What's wrong, are you okay?"

She saw immediately that he was not. Though it was dark, she could see that he was getting misty-eyed, though he managed to keep his tears back.

"What do you want?" Ángel asked.

"We're worried about you, silly," Mimi said, offering a smile. "You know, I've talked to everyone else lately and they say that you really helped them out. And I see you help everyone all the time. But now you look like you need someone to talk to, so I thought I could help!"

Mimi's bubbly personality could wear on someone's nerves sometimes, but right now it was exactly what Ángel needed. More than anything else, he wanted to talk.

"I… I'm sorry for the way I behaved, but… I thought I fit in well here and then I realized that I… I still do not—"

"Sure you do!" Palmon said. "Don't say that, you're our friend!"

"You do not know what you are talking about!" Muchomon cried defensively at his fellow digimon. "You don't know—"

"Muchomon, it's all right." Ángel sighed. "He's right that you do not know everything, but that is because I was afraid to tell you. But, this is the place where I belong. I was born to come here and fight the Ancient Enemy. I _must_ fit in here, or I will never fit in anywhere."

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked, more confused now than before. Ángel's insecurity and Muchomon's seriousness were both unexpected. Ángel usually seemed the most confident and tranquil of the group, while Muchomon liked to joke through every situation. Their new attitudes were strange and Mimi guessed that Amanda's comment had touched on something very personal to them.

"I will explain, Mimi," Ángel said. "I think at least you ought to know. I know that you will not think less of me, but the others might..."

* * *

It was about eight years ago that my life changed. I was just a normal boy. My father was a farmer and my mother took care of the home, like it is now. My little brother had not been born, but I wasn't lonely. I had many friends in the village and we spent our time playing in the town or in the hills nearby. Then, one night, I had a dream that changed everything.

I saw this beautiful place, with forests, mountains, and great cities. And I saw that it was filled with strange and wonderful creatures. I did not know then, but I do now: they were digimon, and I was seeing the Digital World. Then, I saw great holes being torn in the sky and throughout the land. This was frightening enough, but then I saw this horrible dark creature with red, glowing eyes. There was something about this monster that terrified me. I could tell that it was up to no good, that all it wanted was destruction and death. Then, I saw it enter one of the strange holes. In my dream, I seemed to follow it, as if I was there. And I saw that it reappeared in a new place. It was in the middle of nowhere, really, but there was a road, a human road, and I knew then that this creature had come to Earth and that it wished to destroy our planet as well as its own.

I awoke screaming and my mother comforted me, saying that it was just a bad dream, that there were no monsters, that I would be all right.

But it was not. That day, I started to hear voices. But it was not like real voices. It was like someone whispering words that were not quite words. It was like I could tell the meaning without actually hearing the words. I could not tell where it came from at first, but I thought it was interesting, so I tried to understand these words.

A few days later, I heard my mother ask, "Where did I put my pan?" I remembered that I borrowed it and used it as a helmet for a game that day. I got it back and brought it to her. I apologized that I borrowed it and I asked if it was the one she was looking for. She said it was, but was surprised because she said that she never asked me where it was. I said that I heard her and she thought that maybe she had spoken aloud without realizing it.

But she was wrong. I would be in the streets and I would hear my neighbors. I would hear them speak, but their lips did not move. Once, I heard my father shouting about a worker of his named Nicolás, and I asked him who Nicolás was and what he had done wrong. Another time, I heard my friend worrying that his mother would find out that he stole some money from her purse. And another time, I heard one of the older boys wondering when he would be able to get to town and get more _cocaína. _I was very confused because when I asked them all about these things, they were very confused and some were angry.

As I listened more and more, the more people did not want to be around me. They thought that I must be spying on them all to learn what I knew. But that was not the only problem for me.

My nightmares were getting very bad. I saw the dark creature with the red eyes more and more, and I felt that he was trying to become strong, strong enough so that no one would stop him. And I felt sure that it was _my_ job to stop him.

I was young and foolish and I thought that I should run away and find this monster on my own. It was like I was a knight, off to slay a dragon. When my parents found me and brought me back, they asked why I ran away and I told them about my dreams. I told them that the world was in danger and that I had to save it. No matter what they told me, I could not be told this was not true. Finally, the village took pity on me. They thought that I was losing control and would never be all right if left alone. I would go and live in the streets if I ran away, they thought. They raised some money and were able to send me to a hospital. I was too young to realize what was happening until my parents took me there and then left me.

They had sent me to a _casa de locos…_ they thought I was crazy.

* * *

"Oh, Ángel... I'm so sorry," Mimi said.

"The funny thing is," he said with a laugh, "even though they were wrong about me, I did learn how to control my abilities. It was just too bad they didn't really understand what was going on."

* * *

I told the doctors that my dreams were real, that I could hear them speaking without talking, and they told me that I could not really "read minds" (that was the first time anyone told me what it was), and that I had to stop spying on people and try to find out why I was having nightmares. My family had no phone, so I could not talk to my parents unless they used a pay phone. I had to talk to them through letters. I was too young to read, so someone else read me my parent's letters and would write letters back for me. I was lonely and afraid and I wondered why my parents had left me in that place. The people were strange and the voices I heard, their thoughts, were strange and some were very horrible. They were just children, but even then they terrified me. What they remembered became my memories. Their terrors were my terrors. I cried myself to sleep many nights.

But I realized that if I was to get out of there, I had to do as the doctors wanted. I pretended not to hear the voices. I ignored my nightmares, and I told the doctors that everything was all right. Soon, they began to believe me. Then I began to believe too and the voices really did stop and the nightmares were gone too. I thought, "I really must have been crazy."

After over half a year, the doctors said I was okay and I could go home. I was so happy and we all had a celebration for me when I returned.

But things were still not right for me. The other children knew where I came from and they would tease me, asking, _"Loco Dominguez, qué dicen los voces?"_ All the time, even my old friends, would come around, calling me _loco, loco, loco!_ I was an outcast and even the adults seemed distant. Only my family was there for me. I was angry and I wanted to fight them, but my mother told me that it was not right to be violent. I had to put up with it and one day they would stop bothering me when they were tired of making jokes. For months afterward, I lived like a freak.

But then one day, something happened that changed everything for me again.

One of my old friends went missing and his parents went around asking where he was. No one had seen him and everyone was getting worried. I was worried too, and then I thought I heard a voice. I wanted to ignore it, but I could not help it. I looked over to another boy and I could see inside his mind and hear his thoughts. _I can't tell them,_ he thought. _I will get in trouble if I tell. And I couldn't do anything about it anyway. He's probably already dead!_

I wanted to ignore it, but it was too important. I grabbed him by the arm and demanded to know what happened. The boy was very scared and said he didn't know what I was talking about. All the other villagers thought I had gone crazy again and tried to pull me away, but I yelled and screamed at the boy to tell the truth until he finally broke down and cried, saying that he did know what had happened, that they had gone into the hills without their parents knowing and that they had gone too close to the cliff. The boy who was missing had fallen in and, he confessed, he'd been too scared to do anything. So he ran back home and tried to keep it quiet.

He led everyone to the place, but no one could see where he was. They called his name, but the missing boy did not call back. Then, I could hear his voice. He was saying, over and over again, _No quiero morir._ "I don't want to die." I concentrated, closing my eyes and focusing, and I began to see things like he saw them. I saw a formation of rocks and I thought I knew where it was, that I had seen the place before. Without another word, I climbed down after him, even though the adults tried to stop me. I went down into the cliff and found him under a rock that was sticking out. And I led the others to him. He had hurt his head, but he was okay. They took him to the doctors and he survived.

When they all asked how I did it, how I knew, I had no choice. I told them how and was afraid that they would lock me up again. At first, they thought that I had seen it happen and tried to blame it on the boy who ran, but my mother told them that I had been with her all day, which was true. They finally had to realize that I had read someone's thoughts, that I was no _loco._

They treated me like I was important. Even the minister at the church treated me like I was someone very wise. At first, I liked it. Then I realized that, while I had their respect, I was no longer one of them. People bowed to me in the streets. My own friends talked to me like an adult. People came asking for their fortunes and for blessings and other things.

I no longer fit in with the rest of them. I was like a treasure of the village. They all treated me like I was a strange holy man with mysterious powers, not as a friend. Once again, only my family treated me as normal. To everyone else, I was again a freak. Perhaps one that they wanted around, but still a freak.

And the worst thing was that the nightmares began again. I didn't know how I could stand it.

* * *

"What did you do?" Mimi asked.

"Nothing," Ángel replied with a smile. "But I knew that if I waited I would know what to do. And then, help came. That year, a bright light appeared in my house and digiegg emerged, along with a digivice. The egg hatched and eventually the digimon inside evolved to Muchomon."

"So, you had someone to understand you when no one else did," Mimi said, understanding. She smiled and looked over to Palmon, who smiled back.

"Yes," Ángel said, patting Muchomon lightly. "And then I had a new dream. Whenever I dreamed of the Ancient Enemy, I dreamed of eight others that would come and help me, that we would defeat the enemy by working together. So, here you are!"

Mimi smiled. "That's why you were so upset?" she asked. "Because you didn't want us to think of you like a freak? Ángel, don't worry about it. Amanda was just a little angry, but I know she won't stay that way. Besides, you're a great teammate! Without you, Venomon and FlareLizamon wouldn't even be able to DNA digivolve! And that's only because you and Jin have so much in common. You're both strong people who won't let their pain get the best of them."

Ángel smile. "Mimi..."

"So don't worry!" she continued. "Everyone thinks you're normal!" She rethought that. "At least, normal for a Digidestined."

Ángel sighed. "I guess you're right. I've been acting foolish. I overreacted."

"Well, would an apology make you feel better?" a new voice asked.

The four of them turned to see Amanda approaching.

"H-how long have you been standing there?" Ángel stammered.

"Pretty much the whole time," she replied, walking up to him. To his surprise, she embraced him, giving him an unexpected hug. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, you clairvoyant cutie!"

"Oh, uh," Ángel blushed slightly. "That's okay," he said. "I forgive you."

"Hey, as long as you're in a forgiving mood, you might want to forgive Jin and Michael for listening in too. They're behind that tree."

Ángel looked and saw Michael and Jin emerge, obviously embarrassed, from behind the tree.

"Yeah, well, guess Mimi won us over so…" Jin began, trailing off.

"We wanted to join Mimi, but we thought that she was doing a better job of making you feel better than we could as a group," Michael explained.

Ángel smiled. "Thank you," he said. "It feels good to be treated like one of the group."

"Yeah, why don't you tell Amanda how it feels since she'll never find out for herself?" Jin remarked jokingly.

Amanda released Ángel and stuck her tongue out at Jin. "Jerk."

The whole group of them left the clearing and walked back to their campsite where the fire had burned down to just a few embers.

"As long as we're all insiders," Amanda said, turning to Ángel, "would you mind telling me what _'perrita'_ means?"

Ángel looked shocked, then turned to glare at Muchomon.

"Tell her if you want," he said, "but just remember, you will have to hold her back while I can fly to safety."

**To be continued…**

_Translations:_

_-"Muchos gracias para nada, perrita!"_ = "Thanks for nothing, little (expletive deleted)!" (Here's a hint: "perro" means dog.)

-_"Ángel, no te preocupes. Está bien, está bien."_ = "Don't worry, Ángel. It's all right, it's all right."

-_"Es la verdad. Soy anormal."_ = "It's the truth. I am a freak."

-_casa de locos_ = "house of crazies," insane asylum, nuthouse

-_"Loco Dominguez, qué dicen los voces?"_ = "Crazy Dominguez, what do the voices say?"

* * *

_(Next episode: Two adversaries show up just as the digimon get separated from their partners. On top of that, there's karaoke and... a drug trip?)_

_P.S. Not leaving a **review**? Are you loco?_


	14. Human Behavior

**Chapter Thirteen:**

**Human Behavior**

"Hurry up! The master will be here shortly for an inspection and I want that console working properly when he arrives!"

Vademon wrung his slimy hands. There had been delay after delay on all the projects they had been working on. The security forces were still having problems remembering what areas of Full Metal City to patrol, the biology laboratory was still unable to produce the desired organism, Andromon's will refused to crack even under the harsh conditions he was subjected to, and the D-Chamber (as the master liked to call it), was still not ready for use.

"If it isn't ready," Vademon continued threateningly to the Gazimon who was hard at work at the console, "then I can only wonder what the master will say."

"I'd say it's a darn shame." Everyone turned to see the speaker. Delgado had entered quietly without anyone noticing him, but now his presence was impossible to ignore. The tightened, sadistic grin on his face seemed tense, even less pleasant than normal. Still wearing his trusty denim shirt, cowboy hat, and brown leather boots, he was unmistakable. Why he kept up the ruse of being a human (and a cowboy of all things!) was beyond them, but it was certain that Delgado liked the appearance and even enjoyed the lingo of the role, slipping in and out of a southern accent as phony as his appearance.

"Now, I told y'all to get this place workin', but it sounds like it ain't gettin' done." He looked at Vademon, who trembled under that dark gaze. "Well, what's the problem?" he asked, dropping the accent once again and getting serious.

"The… that console isn't working yet," Vademon replied.

Delgado now turned to the Gazimon working on it, who did not tremble only because he was petrified with fear. Delgado asked nothing, but gave him a look as if to ask, "Well?"

"I… I haven't been able…" he gulped, "to f-finish connecting it to the m-m-main chamber."

Delgado looked to the center of the room. There was a large circular area there. This chamber was very important and if the center part of the chamber didn't work, then it was all pointless. The D-Chamber was a top-priority assignment and Vademon was worried that Delgado wouldn't stand for any more delays.

Delgado said nothing for a moment. "Why?" he asked the Gazimon.

The Gazimon took a deep breath. "I can't get the system to produce accurate energy readouts."

"Well, that's not an easy thing to do," Delgado granted, sounding very reasonable. "But I trust you have a reason why you haven't been able to get it working in the past few days?"

"Too… too much pressure. I guess." The Gazimon replied.

"Pressure." Delgado rubbed his chin thoughtfully, considering the reason. "Setting up a console on a deadline isn't pressure." That said, his hand shot out and seized the Gazimon by the head. _"This,"_ he said, his voice cruel, "is pressure." And that said, he began to squeeze the Gazimon's head in his large hand. The muffled cries of pain were not lost on the rest of the workers, Vademon among them, and they became steadily more piteous as Delgado squeezed harder and harder, his hand slowly crushing the Gazimon like a vice until at last there came the crack of bone giving out and the Gazimon shattered to data.

"Vademon, get someone to work on that console," Delgado ordered, dusting his hands off deliberately. "And make sure he can handle the _pressure._"

"Very well, sir," Vademon said. "Will you be coming by for an inspection tomorrow?"

Delgado did not answer at first, but instead walked to the elevator. The D-Chamber itself was at the top of a tall tower and the only access point was the elevator. He motioned for Vademon to come as well. Vademon reluctantly entered and the two rode the elevator down together.

"I need to make a trip to Folder," Delgado said. "I'll be gone a few days, but I want to see some progress when I get back. We still have a military operation to perform, so get the security forces ready, and especially get the biology lab working. I want the weapon to be ready for use when I come back."

"As you wish, master," Vademon said, relieved that he would get a few days without Delgado terrorizing him and the other workers. "But why are you making a trip now?"

"Those Digidestined kids are tearing through the Eight Gods faster than I thought. Five of them are history."

"Five?" Vademon asked. "Are you sure?"

Delgado gave Vademon a sharp look. "I can see things thousands of miles away that you couldn't see if they were right in front of your face, Vademon. I'm sure of it. There are three of those fools left and they might not last long. I want to be there to congratulate the Digidestined once they've finished their tests."

Delgado seemed to cheer up at that. "Well, at least their suffering will be something entertaining. 'Motivating' the workers is fun, but I could use a vacation."

Vademon nodded absently. Delgado had done a lot of "motivating" lately. There were nearly a thousand digimon in Full Metal City when they started, but Delgado's motivation had cost them at least fifty workers in the last week alone. Sure, the workers were working harder now, but it was being offset by mistakes and fatigue. If Delgado understood that, he clearly didn't care. Vademon suspected he just liked having an excuse to kill things.

Still, it looked like Vademon's wish for revenge was about to come true, and that meant that all this work was starting to pay off.

"So, the Digidestined are nearing their ends?" he asked excitedly.

"No," Delgado replied with a sadistic chuckle, "but they'll soon wish they were."

* * *

"Bleh!" Mimi stuck out her tongue, making a face at the warm bowl of goop she held in her hands. "I know Aristomon was a big meanie and everything, but at least he had good food," she said.

"Yeah, we should have raided the fridge or something before we left," Palmon agreed.

"Hey, we agreed to just leave it alone because he might have poisoned it," Jin reminded them. "We don't need that junk and there was no point in staying longer than necessary."

"I wouldn't complain," Penguinmon said, "but, Mimi and Palmon are right. This stuff is gross."

The rest of the group nodded. Jin and Ángel had gotten up early to do some hunting or foraging but neither of them managed to catch or find anything. That meant that they had to dip into their rations for breakfast and Jin's choice of breakfast wasn't making anyone happy. It seemed to be some kind of grain cereal that looked like a cross between oatmeal, cream of wheat, and snot.

"Will you guys be quiet and eat this stuff already? It's what we're having so don't complain." Jin ate a spoonful of it and made a brave effort to not make a face as well, though it was quite obvious that he wasn't enjoying it either.

"Jin, who are you trying to kid?" Amanda jerked a thumb at Scarmon. "Even your partner won't eat this stuff. And he used to eat sewer rats!"

It was true. Scarmon hadn't even tasted it. Jin gave him a reproachful glare, but Scarmon showed no remorse. "Hey, I smelled it and that's as far as I went."

"Yeah, well, if you want something else, then you're going to have to get it yourself."

Scarmon shrugged. "Fine with me," he said, and promptly got up and made for the woods.

"Hey, come back here!" Jin called. Scarmon paid him no heed, but went on by himself, Jin trying futilely to keep up.

"I think Scarmon has the right idea," Amanda said. "I'm going to look for something to eat too."

"Hey, it's a bad idea for them to go off alone and it would be for us too," Penguinmon said. Then he took another look at his breakfast. "On the other hand, I'm more afraid of this crap than I am of anything out there."

"Count me in!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Me too!" Palmon added.

"Well, Muchomon?" Ángel asked his partner.

"Okay, but I am taking the air. You take the ground."

Michael got up to go look as well, but Betamon stopped him.

"Somebody needs to guard the camp while the others are gone," Betamon said. "We can stay here if you guys promise to bring us something back."

"Sure!" Mimi agreed, speaking for everyone else.

"No problem," Michael said. "I hope you all find something good!"

That decided, everyone went their own separate ways, each Digidestined taking their own partners looking for breakfast.

* * *

"Scarmon!" Jin called. He lost track of the small, black reptile as he went deeper into the jungle. Even if Scarmon was right and they should get something better to eat, Jin knew it was better if they worked together. Neither he nor Scarmon would be able to catch anything very large on their own and would be lucky if they got so much as a light snack. He was losing track of Scarmon quickly and he knew that his partner was purposefully evading him out of spite. Still, he tried his hardest, but he was stopped short when he tripped over something.

Grumbling to himself at his carelessness, he looked and saw a massive pile of rusty old junk. Rusty pots, pans, scrap metal, and several old bits of machinery were lying in a heap in the middle of the jungle.

"What kind of idiot would leave all this stuff in the middle of the jungle?" he asked aloud. He took a closer look at it, trying to determine why it had been left there. Leaning in for a closer look was his big mistake, however, as the pile of junk suddenly stood up and knocked him to the ground before he could even yell in surprise.

* * *

"I'm soooo hungry," Mimi whined. "Maybe we should just go back and open something else from the rations. Something we can actually _eat_ this time."

"We can't waste anything just because we don't like what was served," Palmon said. "Besides, we'll find something sooner or later. And if we don't, at least we get to see more of Folder."

Mimi smiled. Palmon was right about that. Folder could be very pretty and it had a lot of different animals that, while not as exotic as the ones in Aristomon's collection, were just as pretty. In fact, Mimi spotted a small green bird with shiny wings that was perched on a tree limb. It chirped an energetic little song unlike any Mimi had heard on Earth.

"Aw, it's so cute," Mimi cooed.

The bird looked at her curiously, but seemed unafraid. It sang more of the song and Mimi and Palmon listened, enchanted by the soft, flowing melody.

Then there was a snarl and the flash of teeth, followed by a piercing shriek cut off in a flurry of feathers. When it was over, Scarmon stood in the bird's former spot, green feathers poking out from his jaws.

Mimi screamed while Palmon just stood in shock.

"What?" Scarmon asked innocently.

"That was so mean!" Mimi cried, stamping her foot. "You ate the birdy!"

"Aw, don't worry. Just follow me around for a while and you'll see him again," Scarmon said, belching loudly.

"Ewwww!"

"Why do you have to be such a jerk?" Palmon demanded. "Isn't there anything you won't eat?"

"Yeah, the breakfast Jin made," Scarmon answered. "Anyway, I'm rounding out my food groups. That was the feathered group, now I need something from my fuzzy and helpless group. Seen any chinchillas around here?"

"You're not going anywhere until you apologize!" Palmon exclaimed.

"Oh yeah? Just watch me." Scarmon leapt from the tree limb, over the two of them, and ran for the woods.

_"Poison Ivy!"_ Palmon attacked, wrapping her vines around Scarmon. "I got him!" she cried triumphantly. She spoke too soon, however, as Scarmon's momentum proved too much for her and she was pulled from her feet and dragged into the jungle after him.

"Palmon!" Mimi was about to give chase when something large caught her around the waist and yanked her helplessly backwards, knocking her out cold.

* * *

"Do you see anything?" Ángel called to Muchomon, who scouted things from the air.

"No, not yet!" Muchomon called. Then he spotted something coming through the jungle, the top of it parting the treetops as it made a path straight for Ángel below.

"Ángel, look out!" Muchomon called. No sooner had he spoken that the oncoming entity leapt from the ground and swatted him from the air with one massive hand, spiking him to the ground like a volleyball.

Ángel was confused and looked around, only to see a massive creature falling from the air to come down at him. Even if it had been possible for him to escape, he was too stunned to move out of its way as it struck him.

* * *

"Well, it looks like Jin and Ángel aren't the infallible wilderness survival experts they thought they were," Amanda said smugly. "They looked right past these things!"

Amanda and Penguinmon had found a small group of blueberry bushes. Actually, they weren't blueberries, but they looked and smelled a lot like blueberries and they were slightly larger. Penguinmon looked them over and decided that they must be bit-grapes, a fruit indigenous to the Digital World. Amanda would have written this down if she hadn't been so hungry. As soon as she learned they were okay to eat, she popped one in her mouth.

"They're a little tart," she said, swallowing it. "But not bad. They must not be quite ripe yet, but that's still better than what's waiting for us back at camp."

"Great, we can take some back to the others," Penguinmon said.

"Yeah," Amanda said, eating another. "Just as soon as I have some more." Penguinmon looked on disapprovingly as his partner popped a few more. As for him, he picked some and put them in small pile to take back to camp. However, Amanda didn't eat very much more after that. Instead, she started humming tunelessly to herself. When she spotted a butterfly moments later, she gazed at it with the look of a newborn baby, muttered something about "so many colors" and wandered off to follow it, much to Penguinmon's annoyance.

_She's acting even weirder than usual,_ Penguinmon thought. He picked another berry and examined it. "Well, it does look pretty good," he said to himself and raised it to his beak to eat it.

Just then, something burst from the woods and slammed into him, knocking him off his feet and making him drop the berry. He was hit by Scarmon, of course, who was still dragging Palmon in tow.

"Watch where you're going!" Penguinmon shouted.

"Oh, get over it, poultry!" Scarmon grumbled, picking himself up. "Besides what are you doing out here alone—" he then noticed the berries, "—picking _these_ things?"

"What, the bit-grapes? They're just some things that we found that you guys didn't find earlier."

"Those aren't bit-grapes!" Scarmon laughed. "We saw them and we kept on going!"

"What? Why?"

Palmon picked one up and looked to the bush it came from. "These look like bit-grapes, but bit-grapes come off of vines. You'd never be able to tell the difference just by looking at the berry. These things are glitterberries."

Penguinmon looked at her quizzically.

"They're psycho… uh, psychotropo… uh… they make you see weird stuff," Scarmon told him.

"They're hallucinogens?" Penguinmon asked incredulously.

"Uh-huh," Palmon said. "Well, only if you eat enough. One doesn't do much, but the more you eat, the stranger things get."

"Yeah, Jin ate some once a few years ago," Scarmon added. "We spent days hanging around eating those things laughing at clouds and stuff. We were addicted 'em."

"What happened?"

"We ate 'em all and we had to do without 'em," Scarmon replied. "After a few days of looking for more, we got over it and stopped caring."

The Penguinmon realized what all this meant. "Oh no… Amanda!"

"Did she eat those things?" Palmon asked. "How many?"

"About six or seven?"

Scarmon and Palmon looked to each other. "So Amanda," Scarmon said, "the energetic anime-nut who has problems seeing what's real and what isn't _normally_, is out wandering around after she ate enough of those berries to keep her tripping for almost an entire day?"

"Looks like it," Palmon replied.

Then the two of them burst out laughing.

The laughter was cut short when they heard a scream coming from the direction of their campsite.

* * *

When they arrived, they found Michael and Betamon alone, but it was obvious that things had taken an odd turn. First, everyone's supplies had been opened and their clothes tossed haphazardly around the area. And second, Michael's normally curly blonde hair had been smeared with hair gel and now his hair was sticking straight up in big golden spikes.

"Does someone want to explain this?" he asked, pointing a finger at his new "do."

The three digimon might have wanted to explain things, but they couldn't do much except laugh at him.

"How… _pfft-haha_ how did that happen?" Penguinmon asked.

"Well, we got bored," Betamon said, "so we took a little nap—"

Michael nudged his partner with one foot, indicating that maybe he shouldn't mention them falling asleep on the job.

"Some guards you two are!" Palmon said angrily.

"Okay, you can be mad if you want, but I'd still like to know who messed with my hair."

There came another laugh, harsher this time, and everyone turned to see that it was Amanda, who was now wearing a blue shirt, blue sweatpants, and a white vest over it with a white pair of shoes. She had also styled her black hair to stick straight up. There was a wild, unfocused look in her eyes and it was obvious that she was out of her skull on psychotropic berries.

"Amanda?" Michael asked.

"Bah!" Amanda scoffed. "Are you really that much of a fool that you don't recognize your better, Kakarot?"

Michael blinked. "Come again?"

"As you wish," she snickered, and charged him. Before he had much of a chance to react, she punched him in the face, sending him sprawling.

"What's wrong, Kakarot?" she laughed haughtily. "Slowly discovering you're no match for a Saiyan prince? That you are—hey, there's that butterfly again!"

Before anyone could stop her, she took off after the butterfly she saw (or at least thought she saw) and disappeared into the woods once again.

"What was that about?" Michael asked, rubbing his cheek tenderly.

"She ate some psychotropic berries," Penguinmon said.

Michael shook his head. "All right, I'm going to get her back before she goes around punching perfect strangers while claiming to be the Duchess of York." He got up and pursued her, his hair still a column of blonde spikes.

The rest of the digimon decided to wait until he got back and they all had a good laugh over this latest weirdness. All in all, they supposed things could have been worse.

They all waited for what seemed an awfully long time for someone to bring back one girl, but it wasn't until Palmon wondered aloud where Mimi was that they realized that something was amiss.

"Yeah, I haven't see Jin in almost an hour," Scarmon said. "He should be back by now."

"And Mimi wouldn't stay out in the woods alone without me, either," Palmon added.

The other two looked increasingly worried and their fears grew much worse when Muchomon ran into the camp shouting, "Emergency! Something happened to Ángel! I think he has been kidnapped!"

It was then that they all began to face the horrible possibility that it wasn't only Ángel. It was looking like all their partners had been taken, leaving them on their own and unable to digivolve.

* * *

"Ow…" Michael murmured. "My head is killing me. What happened?"

"The same thing that happened to the rest of us," Jin answered. "We got separated from our digimon and got captured."

"Captured? By who?"

He heard footsteps coming and looked to see their captor. He also became aware of his situation.

Their captor had tied them all together with rope and then suspended them upside down from a crane by their ankles. They appeared to be in some kind of junkyard as broken wrecks of various machines were piled into hills that surrounded them. Refrigerators, sinks, cars, bulldozers, and some machines that were so wrecked that they couldn't be identified. At first, Michael didn't even distinguish his captor from the rest of the refuse surrounding them. The creature was a large and vaguely humanoid looking. He had two legs, two arms, a torso, a head, and a pair of eyes. However, the similarity ended there.

"Me," the thing introduced itself, "am Junkmon!"

It was an apt name. Junkmon looked to be made entirely of rusty, dented, filthy junk. His long, sharp fingers were the bent and rusted blades of hedge trimmers. One leg looked to be an amalgamation of twisted wires, crumpled pipes, and a misused Erector set. The other was the fuselage and working arm of a backhoe. His chest had a crooked chrome fender from a wrecked car imbedded in it, one of his shoulders was a toaster, and his head was a screwed-up mess of several unrecognizable pieces of junk squished together in a completely asymmetrical abomination. His jaws were a rusty bear trap, and even his eyes didn't match: one was an industrial-sized high-beam flashlight, while the other was the lens that had been snapped off of a security camera. He looked like an android that had been made out of random bric-a-brac that had been found around someone's house, left to rust over a few months, and then blown up.

"Hey, can you dance the robot? That would be awesome! Please, please, pretty please?" Amanda asked, giggling insanely, completely oblivious to the danger she was in.

"Michael, what happened to her?" Mimi asked. "She's been acting like this since she woke up."

"She ate some weird berries," he replied.

"Oh, great, just when I think things couldn't get any worse," Jin grumbled, "now I've got to put up with the little weirdo when she's stoned, too."

Junkmon scratched his head stupidly with one rusty finger, producing an ingratiating screech that made everyone grit their teeth. "Me am dumbfused," he said, rumbling in his harsh metallic voice. "You no am scared of me?"

"Hey, can you make us some toast with your shoulder?" Amanda asked. "We're hungry because Jin made a crappy breakfast."

"Hey, if you're going to kill us, can you kill her first?" Jin asked bitterly.

"Jin!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Me no kill you yet," Junkmon said. "Boss-guy say that digimon strong, not like hoo-mons."

Michael looked to his fellow hoo-mons, seeing if they were as confused as him.

"Me am smart, though!" Junkmon said enthusiastically. "First, me catch hoo-mons."

He then pointed at each of them individually as he made a mental list. "Me catch pretty girl what smell like flowers," he said pointing at Mimi, "white shirt boy," to Ángel, "frowny grouchy boy in black," Michael laughed while Jin fumed, "tiny stupid girl," Jin now laughed, even though Amanda was oblivious to the insult, "and boy with funny sticky-up hair," Jin laughed even harder as Michael tried to pretend he didn't mind.

"Why did you capture us?" Ángel asked amid the silliness. "What is your plan?"

Junkmon was happy to oblige. "Digimon come for hoo-mons and then—" here he raised his fists, "—JUNKMON SMASH!"

"You can't fool us, you're really the Incredible Hulk in disguise!" Amanda exclaimed.

Junkmon cocked his head to one side. "Am she always this way?"

"She more or less am, yeah," Jin replied.

"It not matter," Junkmon said. "Digimon not beat Junkmon because Aristomon give Junkmon help when we come here. Him show me Gahenna Junkyard and we find something that help." Junkmon pointed to the top of one of the junk heaps and the digidestined spotted something that made them all freeze where they were (except Amanda who was making motor boat noises with her lips): mounted atop one of the hills was the broken point of one of the Digimon Emperor's old control spires. It seemed to be getting power from some wires, and, not only that, there were several other hunks of control spires mounted on similar heaps.

"Me give them power. One not work, but a lot together make sure that digimon no digivolve." The five children began to realize that the situation might be graver than they thought. "Them no beat me or other Eight Gods!"

* * *

"Hey, Penguinmon, stop waddling and keep up!" Scarmon growled.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're moving too fast for the rest of us," Penguinmon remarked.

Scarmon looked behind him. The other four digimon were all a significant distance behind him and they all looked a bit winded. He grumbled something, but slowed down and walked with the rest of them. Palmon walked alongside him and noticed the worried expression on his face.

"It's okay, Scarmon," she reassured him. "I'm worried about Mimi, too."

"Who's worried?" Scarmon asked defensively. "I already said that they were alive, so what's the problem?"

They had been walking for a while. It had taken some time to find the trail of whoever abducted the humans, but eventually Scarmon had noticed the smell of rust and motor oil, realizing that whoever had abducted them was probably cybernetic in nature. Penguinmon thought maybe someone had taken them in a car, but Scarmon discovered some odd shaped footprints that excluded that theory. What was unsettling was that the abductor must have moved very fast and they were obviously very large. In all likelihood, this was the work of another one of the Eight Gods. However, the good news was that he smelled each of their partners and there was no smell of blood or anything that would indicate that they had been harmed. The trail was easy to follow, but it would probably take a while to find the culprit. The trail had led them through some deeper rainforest with gigantic trees, though the foliage seemed to be less thick here.

"You're obviously worried," Penguinmon said, backing Palmon.

"It's okay, Scarmon, we all are," Betamon agreed.

"Leave me alone," Scarmon sighed. "Let's just get there."

"You are acting strange," Muchomon said. "You are usually very protective of Jin, but you seem embarrassed now."

"I told you to leave me alone, so shut up about it!"

"But—"

"Quiet!" he snarled, turning on all of them, barring his teeth. "When I say I don't want to talk, I mean it!"

The others looked to each other. Scarmon could be difficult to handle when he was like this. Like Jin, he had one of the shortest tempers of the group, and he was clearly one of the most feral digimon. None of the others would have reacted the same way, but Scarmon was not above snarling and biting when he was angry.

"Scarmon," Muchomon said firmly. "Calm down. It is all right if you blame yourself, but we thought you might want to talk about it."

Scarmon was stunned, but chose to ignore this comment and continued moving ahead.

Palmon dropped slightly back to walk with the others. "He can be a real jerk sometimes," she said loud enough for Scarmon to hear. "He always acts tough, but he's a real softie when it comes to his partner."

"Yeah, he worries too much," Betamon added slyly, knowing it would get to Scarmon.

"You're right," Muchomon said. "I have digivolved with him and he gets very devoted. I guess we both are as Quemamon. I can understand why he acts like this is his fault."

"Well it _is_ my fault!" Scarmon shouted, unable to contain his fury. "I was the one that took off without Jin and left him defenseless because I couldn't choke down breakfast, then we all had to eat some of it before we left anyway to keep our strength up in case we need to digivolve, so it was all a big waste of time and the rest of us wouldn't have split up if I hadn't done something stupid!"

The other four went silent. "No, it's not your fault," Penguinmon said. "At least not totally. I just let Amanda wander off."

"I was too busy trying to stop you and left Mimi behind," Palmon added.

"And I let Michael chase Amanda," Betamon said.

"And I should not have let Ángel go with no one but me." Muchomon's comment was followed by a dejected, guilty silence from all five of them.

"Okay, so we all messed up," Scarmon finally admitted. "That doesn't make me feel any better and I won't feel any better until we find them."

"Don't worry too much," Palmon said. "They're tough. I'll bet they're just waiting confidently until we show up to save them."

* * *

"Michael, if I called for Junkmon to come back here and kill me, do you think he'd do it?" Jin asked.

"I don't know, why?"

"You have to ask?"

Michael supposed not. Amanda was now babbling away with no sign of coherence or sign of stopping:

"…And then there's the English dub of CardCaptor Sakura. What were they thinking removing all the BL implications and the big confession by Syaoran at the end? Was it too much for Kids WB to cater to someone who _doesn't_ like 'Pokémon?' And speaking of which, I have that episode that gave all those kids seizures on VCD and I would love to watch it right now on these berries because the colors! Wow! This is the most awesome junkyard ever and it would be even better if they kept the original title of the 'Cowboy Bebop' movie and we found out Spike really used to work for Lord Ilpalazzo alongside Excel with Captain Taylor at the helm of their loveboat!"

Amanda stopped for a moment to catch her breath.

"Michael, she's on the other side of this knot and I'm getting dizzy hanging upside down," Jin said. "Would you mind doing something about this?"

"Like what?"

"Like getting her to shut up. See if you can stab her with your hair."

"I think it looks good on you," Mimi said.

"Really?" he asked, feeling his pulse quicken.

Then he realized that she was just being nice, as her heard her stifling a laugh.

Jin sighed loudly, thinking that things couldn't get any worse.

"And last night," Amanda went on, "I had a dream that Jin was dancing in a pair of bicycle shorts to Loverboy's 'Working for the Weekend!'"

Jin's face reddened as the others made no effort to conceal their laughter. "Okay, that's it, I'm getting out of here," he said determinedly, struggling to get free of his bonds. He only succeeded in causing them all to swing side to side like a pendulum, however, and all this did was make most of them slightly nauseous.

* * *

"So, how did you meet Mimi, Palmon?" Penguinmon asked, making conversation.

"Well, there's not much to say," she replied with a shrug. "I was born, I waited for a while with the other six original Digidestined digimon, and then Mimi showed up. I thought she might be scared, but she just picked me up and said I was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. And then we were attacked by a Kuwagamon, so we didn't get acquainted until later."

"How long did you have to wait?"

"A few years, I don't remember, I was a baby," she said.

"Same here," Scarmon said. "But Jin didn't say I was the cutest thing when he met. He took one look at me and kicked me like a soccer ball."

"Do not take it personally," Muchomon said. "It was probably just because you are not cute. Like me."

Scarmon chuckled. He liked the overgrown parrot's occasional jokes. He had a style for bothering people that Scarmon admired. Scarmon was good at bothering people, but only by direct insults. Muchomon could tease someone without being a bully, something Scarmon couldn't pull off. He especially liked his shots at Penguinmon, who hated being reminded that he was flightless.

"Well, I guess you didn't have to do much waiting, Muchomon," Palmon said. "Ángel said that your digiegg appeared in his house. You were born on Earth."

"Yes, but it was very strange to be the only digimon in a place of humans," Muchomon said. "Everyone knew me, but there were only a few that would play with Ángel and me. You know, because they still did not understand him or why I was there. But it was fine. I learned to make jokes and people learned that they did not have to be so serious around us. I think sometimes I fit in better than Ángel."

"You know, it's kind of weird," Penguinmon remarked. "You two were waiting for partners, Muchomon was born with his, but Amanda kind of _convinced_ me to be her partner."

"What do you mean?" Palmon asked.

"It's... a very long story."

"Oh come on!"

"Well... okay, here's the short version: I got sucked through a portal into Amanda's room. The first time I saw her, I got freaked out because I never saw a human before, so, I, uh... I smacked her across the face."

Scarmon laughed.

_"Anyway,"_ Penguinmon went on, ignoring Scarmon, "she told me we were supposed to be digidestined partners. She was obsessed with being a digidestined since she saw the original ones fight Apocalymon and knew all about digimon at that time, but she didn't even have a digivice or anything at that time, so I just left her behind. But then some other weird things started happening in Roxanne and more digimon came around. Since she was so obsessed, she tried to fight them off. I decided to help her out but when I got hurt, she just started crying and saying she would do anything to help me fight. And then a digivice appeared, we beat back our enemy, and, well, we've been partners since then. There's a lot more, but that's the short version."

"Aw, what a cute story!" Palmon exclaimed. "I guess that's how you met Michael, right Betamon?"

Betamon looked surprised. "No, that's not how it happened. I didn't come to Earth first. I was just having an ordinary day, wondering why there was a strange planet in the sky when this weird creature fell out of the sky. It turned out to be Michael. He was holding his digivice in his hand and when he woke up, he just looked at me. He wasn't scared or happy or anything, just curious. Then he started babbling about New York and that there was some monster attacking it and that he needed to get back and make sure that his family was safe. I didn't know what he was saying, but I said that I would help. Then, for some reason, it took both of us back to New York, which was under attack by Gorillamon. I tried to stop him and couldn't, but then I managed to digivolve and we took care of the big ape together."

"Weird," Scarmon said. He hadn't really thought about it before, but now it struck him as interesting that they didn't all share the same experience as himself. He already knew Palmon's story, but the others were a surprise. He wondered what else they did or didn't have in common.

"Okay, be honest," he said. "When you first met your partners, how many of you thought they were weird looking?"

Everyone's hands went up, save for Muchomon, who of course was born around humans.

"Yeah, same here," Scarmon laughed. "I mean, those humans are just _weird!"_

"Yeah, like they have no hair except on their _heads,"_ Penguinmon said.

"And clothes," Betamon added. "What is _that_ about? I mean, none of us wear clothes and nobody even cares."

"I thought that was weird too," Palmon agreed. "Mimi spends a lot of time picking out clothes in the morning or buying new ones. She just loves them! They're nice, but I don't get why they're any prettier than going without anything. It probably has something to do with… y'know, that thing they do."

"What thing?" Muchomon asked.

"Well," she said, a little embarassed. "Have any of you heard how humans reproduce?"

"Uf! Yes," said Muchomon, laughing.

"Of course," Betamon replied.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Penguinmon answered, rolling his eyes. "And that's not the worst: the other night Amanda made me tell her about 'The Dance.'"

_"Ewww!"_ said the other four in unison.

"Tell me about it," Penguinmon said. "That girl is nosy."

Scarmon raised a claw tentatively. "Uh… back up a sec. What are we talking about, exactly? Jin never told me how humans reproduce. Is it that kissing thing?"

The other digimon looked to each other nervously.

"You're joking," Penguinmon said flatly. "Please tell me you're joking."

Scarmon just stared at him silently.

"Okaaay, I did this once with Amanda, I'm not explaining this one," Penguinmon said.

Palmon sighed. "Okay, Scarmon, this is going to sound really, really weird." She paused, then added. _"Really._ Anyway, when a human boy and a human girl love each other very much…"

* * *

"Everybody's working for the weekend!" Amanda sang.

_This is torture,_ Jin thought grimly, his face now totally red.

"Everybody wants a new romance!" Michael joined.

_This is pure hell,_ Jin thought.

"Everybody's going off the deep end!" Mimi sang.

_I hate this song, and this is the worst part…_

"Every peoples need second chance!" Junkmon shouted, horribly off key.

_Scarmon, please hurry up and rescue me before my brain self-distructs._

* * *

Palmon took another glance back at Scarmon, who had now fallen to the back of the group. They had now entered a section of marsh and they figured it couldn't be much further to their destination, but after Palmon's explanation of the birds and the bees, Scarmon seemed very distracted.

"Scarmon? You okay?" Penguinmon asked.

"You're _sure_ that's how it's done?" he asked, still not believing them.

"For the last time, yes!" he answered, annoyed with the question.

"Maybe we shouldn't have told him," Betamon said. "Our partners all told us."

"Jin and Scarmon have been together longer than any of us and Jin never told him," Palmon said. "What makes you think he would _ever_ tell him?"

"Well, I guess there aren't a lot of human girls in the Digital World," Betamon reasoned. "Scarmon, it's not like it's—uh, Scarmon?"

Scarmon had stopped in his tracks. He no longer looked disturbed, however, but tense and alert.

"Something's here," he hissed. "And it's close. I just hope I'm wrong about this, but I think I know this scent."

The others looked around cautiously when the entity in question suddenly leapt into their path.

The khaki vest and blue jeans were unmistakeable, but then, it was hard to forget a bipedal crocodile.

"SCARMON!" it bellowed. "I've found you at last!"

"Crocmon!" Scarmon snarled, charging to the front of the group. "What are you still doing here? I thought after Orochimon beat you up, you'd give up and get lost!"

"Not while you're still around!" Crocmon laughed. "I heard that you were still on the island, going through the Eight Gods, so I decided that you must have beaten Orochimon and were still alive. Now, I'm ready for a rematch."

"Hold on," Penguinmon said, making sure he understood things. "You heard we beat digimon that could defeat you easily and you came _looking_ for us?"

Crocmon nodded.

"You're right, Scarmon. This guy is an obsessive freak."

"Say what you will, but after the hardships I've endured, I will never give up! I have had to climb over mountains to avoid another one of the Eight in a canyon, was attacked by some Bakemon on another mountain, and the other day something flew overhead and puked on me!"

Penguinmon burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHAHA, oh my god, are you serious? No way, what are the odds? Oh man..."

Crocmon's expression darkened. "I don't have a problem with any of you except Scarmon," he said. "I'll let the rest of you go if you leave now, but I won't hesitate to tear you apart to get to that runt!"

The five Rookies looked insignificant compared to the much larger digimon, especially knowing that Venomon and FlareLizamon couldn't defeat him without DNA digivolving. This was a powerful adversary, but none of them backed down.

"What are you guys doing?" Scarmon demanded. "This is my fight, so take off!"

"What do we tell Jin when we find him?" Palmon shot back. "That we left you to get clobbered by this guy?"

"And you and I are DNA digivolve partners," Muchomon reminded him. "Without you, I can never be as strong as I need to be. If one of us is gone, then there is no point in going on. I am just helping to make sure you don't get deleted." He gave him a smile.

Scarmon wasn't in a mood to argue, though his pride still wanted this to be a solo fight. "Fine. But don't wimp out on me just because you can't take a beating!"

"Oh, you'll all take a beating," Crocmon said. "Without those little brats, you don't have a chance!"

"We'll see about that!" Betamon shouted. "Let's go!"

At that, they all charged their opponent, who simply jumped out of their way and with a cry of, _"Tail Thrash!"_ brought his massive reptilian tail down on all five of them, pounding them into the ground.

"Ow…" Penguinmon groaned.

"He's right," Palmon said, struggling to pull herself out of the dust. "Without our partners, we can't digivolve and we can't beat him."

Crocmon was idly standing by, as if challenging them to try again, reveling in their helplessness.

"Do you think we could try to digivolve anyway?" Muchomon asked. "Maybe if we concentrate, it won't matter how far away they are."

"I don't think so," Scarmon said. "I've been trying and it hasn't worked. They're just too far away."

"Then we'll just have to fight him like this!" Penguinmon exclaimed.

"Got any ideas, bird?" Scarmon asked.

"Yes!" Penguinmon cried triumphantly. "Okay… Scarmon, Betamon, Muchomon: hold him here! Palmon, come with me!"

The three left to fight watched incredulously as Penguinmon grabbed Palmon by the hand and ran for the jungle. "You chicken!" Scarmon snarled.

"We'll think of something, you just try to keep him busy for a little while!" Penguinmon assured him as he vanished into the underbrush.

"Confident little guy," Crocmon remarked. "But he doesn't seem to realize that you three will be history by the time he thinks of a plan." He cracked his scaly knuckles with anticipation.

"Put up or shut up, psycho," Scarmon growled.

Crocmon was done with banter as well. Scarmon had barely finished speaking when Crocmon raised his foot and tried to stomp on him. With his attention focused on Scarmon, Betamon attacked his other leg. _"Fin Cutter!"_ he shouted, leaping forward and slashing Crocmon's leg with one sharp fin. Surprised, he went to one knee as Muchomon, who had gone airborne, swooped at his head. _"Ardent Flame!"_ Muchomon attacked, breathing a small, but hot flame onto the back of his head. Crocmon swatted at his attacker, but the bird had already flown a safe distance away.

_You little guys are more resourceful than I thought,_ Crocmon thought to himself. _But you just don't have the strength. Sooner or later, you'll get tired, your strength will give out, and I'll finish you!_

* * *

"Penguinmon, what are we looking for?" Palmon asked. "We should be helping the others!"

"We are!" he said. "I'm just looking for something, anything at all, that we can use to take out that big lug!"

The two of them were not far from the fight at all and could hear the battle cries of their allies as they struggled to bring down the larger, stronger digimon. Penguinmon had discovered a cliff and was pacing the edge of it, looking to see what was below them and if there was anything they could use. He went a little farther and was startled when the dirt below him crumbled and he began to slide down the cliffside.

_"Poison Ivy!"_ Palmon reached with her vines and yanked him away from the edge before he tumbled to the ground below.

"Thanks," Penguinmon said, panting as his heart raced. "This cliff's got to be at least a couple hundred feet high."

He considered the implication. It wouldn't be an easy task, but it was the best idea he had yet. The only problem would be the positioning…

He looked around and noticed a tall palm tree. Around them were several dried fronds. "Okay, Palmon, I think I have something, but I need you to do something strenuous or else it won't work. Think you can take it?"

Palmon looked up as she heard one of the other digimon give a cry of pain as he was hit. She looked back to Penguinmon and nodded.

* * *

The cry Palmon heard came from Betamon. Without exchanging words, he, Scarmon, and Muchomon had worked out an attack plan. Scarmon was the fastest and Crocmon's favorite target, so he kept distracting Crocmon by taunting him, running circles around him, and hitting him with an occasional Plasma Fire attack. Muchomon stayed in the air and dive bombed him when he saw an opening, while Betamon could only move fast in leaps. His powerful jumping abilities meant that he had to him when he was vulnerable and keep out of the way the rest of the time. Now, however, he had miscalculated and attempted a Beta Slugger into his side. The body check failed, however: Crocmon was just too sturdy to be hurt by the impact and he bounced off his side, down his leg and onto Crocmon's foot. Reacting instantly, Crocmon used his foot to kick him lightly into the air like a hacky sack, then whirled around, using his gigantic tail like a baseball bat, knocking him through the air and into a tree. The sudden attack racked his body and the yell of pain escaped him.

"You'll pay for that!" Scarmon yelled, charging for him. Rather than dodge the ensuing Tail Thrash attack, Scarmon jumped and grabbed onto the tail, then ran along it, up Crocmon's back and jumping from his head. Crocmon finally got sight of him and fixed his gaze on him as if entranced. "Here's mud in your eye, suitcase," Scarmon said with a vicious grin. _"Plasma Fire!"_

Crocmon had been too surprised to react as Scarmon leapt from his head and now it cost him severely. The attack hit him square in the eye and he bellowed in pain, clawing at it as he staggered back.

"My eye!" he roared. "What did you do?" When he finally looked back to them, the injured eye was shut tightly, twitching in pain as telltale smoke issued from it.

"You've blinded me, Scarmon," Crocmon said grimly. "Deformed me! There's no end to your evil, and I won't let you die without returning the favor first!"

Crocmon looked over his shoulder with his good eye and saw Muchomon charging for his back again, but this time he was ready. He ducked and flipped his tail upwards, knocking Muchomon forwards and crashing into Scarmon. The two dazed digimon tried to get up quickly, but Crocmon sprang forward and grabbed them with his massive hands.

"Now, I've got you two where I want you, and I'm going to pay you back for my last defeat." That said, he began to squeeze them, slowly crushing the breath from their lungs, his cruel grin widening as he watched them struggle for air.

* * *

"Okay, Palmon, I think it looks good," Penguinmon said of the finished trap. Palmon was gritting her teeth and obviously the exertion was getting to her. "Do you think you can hold it a little longer?" he asked with concern.

"I'm not sure," she said, slowly losing her grip and being pulled forward.

Penguinmon thought fast. "Think about Mimi. Do this and we can get on with saving her."

Palmon nodded solemnly, then tightened her grip.

"I'll be right back. Just give me a few minutes!"

* * *

"I can see the pain's getting to you," Crocmon chuckled. "You need air to survive, but I'm denying you that air. It's not starvation, but now you know the pain you put me through. Even apologies can't make up for this kind of pain, and you're only getting a small taste of it!"

_"Fin Cutter!"_

Crocmon looked and saw Betamon pointing a sharp fin at him as he leapt. He was aiming for his remaining eye. Without even thinking, he released both his prisoners and guarded his eye, dodging the attack. Betamon failed to hit his mark and sailed past him, but the others managed to get out of Crocmon's reach as they gasped for breath.

"Are you two okay?" Betamon asked as the three of them regrouped.

"Yeah…" Scarmon panted.

"What about you?" Muchomon asked. "We thought you were hurt too badly to fight any more."

"I'm tougher than you think," Betamon said, eyeing Scarmon.

"Fine," Scarmon acknowledged, seeing that Crocmon was seething with rage and ready to launch another attack. "Well, think you can give me a boost here?"

Betamon examined Crocmon and decided he didn't have the strength on his own. "If Muchomon can help, maybe."

_"No problema,"_ Muchomon agreed.

Crocmon was too angry to see straight and charged at them. "Let's hope it's not," Scarmon said. "Let's go!"

Scarmon hopped on Betamon's back, letting the frog-like digimon jump into the air, propelling him upwards. Once in the air, Muchomon swooped up and grabbed him in his clawed feet and, before he could be weighed down, he managed to lift Scarmon up a little higher before released him, sending him flying straight at Crocmon's face.

_"Plasma—"_

_ "Crush Bite!"_ Crocmon shouted, leaping forward and snapping up Scarmon in his cavernous jaws.

"Scarmon!" the other two exclaimed.

_Ironic, Scarmon,_ Crocmon thought. _You starved me, and now you've become a light snack!_ He prepared to swallow him.

Then he felt a searing, blinding pain at the back of his throat and spat out his foe as let out a piteous howl.

Scarmon landed on the ground as Crocmon went to his knees, coughing and sputtering as a cloud of smoke spewed from his mouth.

"Not what I wanted, but a good Plasma Fire attack to the back of the throat works too," Scarmon said with a shrug.

"I'll… kill… you…" Crocmon gasped.

"You guys!" Penguinmon said, arriving on the scene. "Follow me, quick!"

The other three didn't need to be told twice and followed him. Crocmon gave a few last coughs, his throat still burning, and stood up to chase them. He crashed through the jungle, though his huge size made it more difficult to keep up with the smaller, quicker digimon. Still, he had power on his side and managed to make tremendous strides with every tree he shoved out of his way.

Then he saw his rival up ahead. The small lizard was trying to scamper up a tree growing on a cliff's edge.

"There you are," he growled.

"Come and get me," Scarmon said. "You may be tough, but I'll be you can't climb trees."

"No, but I can tear them out by their roots!" Crocmon shouted, lunging at him.

Perhaps if he hadn't been so angry, he wouldn't have fallen victim to the trap that had been laid. However, his blind rage and his lack of an eye both helped to seal his fate. As soon as he was at the right spot, Penguinmon shouted, "Now!" Nearby was Palmon. She had anchored herself to a rock and used her Poison Ivy attack to pull back a large palm tree, bending it back to the point of immense stress. She could barely hold it, the stress of it trying to spring back was so great. Penguinmon had covered her and the tree with the numerous palm fronds, camouflaging the trap from Crocmon's inattentive eye. At the cry of "Now!" Palmon released the tree, letting it spring back up. Straigtening itself, it smacked Crocmon square in the face, causing him to stagger back to the edge of the cliff. The dirt beneath him began to give way and he began to fall.

"No!" he cried, reaching for Scarmon, hoping to take him with him.

"Yes," Scarmon said coolly, bringing his head back, just out of Crocmon's reach as the large Champion finally tumbled back, plummeting hundreds of feet to the bottom as a landslide of dirt and rocks tumbled upon him afterwards.

"It worked." Penguinmon sighed in relief.

"Great, my arms were getting tired," Palmon complained.

"Yes, but the stretching was good for you. I think you're a little taller now," Muchomon said jokingly.

"Shut up, I am not!" Palmon said indignantly.

"Whatever you say, Slim!" Scarmon added.

"Come on you guys, we don't have time for this!" Betamon said. "We still have to save the others and we might even need to fight again!"

* * *

"Jin, it's no use," Michael said after overcoming his nausea. "All that struggling isn't doing a thing."

"Justice and duty, time for tea!" Amanda exclaimed.

"Maybe we could get her to barf up those berries she swallowed," Jin said. "That's a good reason for struggling."

"Well, you're making the rest of us sick too," Mimi said. "I wish he hadn't hung us upside down. I'm just glad I didn't wear a skirt today."

"See, it's not helping," Michael said. "There's no use struggling anyway. Junkmon tied these ropes so tight that no amount of struggling in the world will make them come loose!"

"Wheeee—ow!" Amanda said suddenly. Michael noticed that the knot they were in didn't seem so crowded anymore. He looked down (up to him) and saw Amanda had fallen free of the knot to the ground below. "Hi, ground! Make me a sammich!"

"No amount of struggling, huh?" Jin asked smugly.

"Actually, I think Junkmon just did not tie her up as well," Ángel said.

"Who cares how she got free as long as she is?" Mimi asked. "Quick, Amanda, help us down!"

"Hai, Gunso-san! Pekopon wo tasukeru desu!" Amanda said, standing up and giving a salute to no one, afterwards running off into the junkyard, showing no sign of helping them.

Mimi's eye twitched. "She's not coming back, is she?"

"She'd better not, or I'm going to throttle her," Jin growled.

* * *

"What is this place?" Muchomon asked.

"I don't know, but it reeks," Scarmon said. "I know that they're in there, since that's where the scent leads, but with all that junk there, I don't know if I can find out where."

Penguinmon looked at the sign over the entrance. "It says it's called 'Gahenna Junkyard.' Think this would explain that rust and motor oil smell? If the kidnapper uses this place as a hideout, no wonder he smells like that."

"Probably," Palmon said. "It doesn't matter now, though. Let's find our partners before whoever took them shows up!"

The five of them agreed and cautiously made their way into the junkard, past the heaps of scrap and refuse. Scarmon led the pack, always looking around for the slightest movement, smelling the air for any hint he could get. He looked over the piles and noticed a comparitively small pile alongside the path they were walking. At first he thought nothing of it. However, when he walked past it and looked back, he could have sworn that it had moved. Still unsure, he sniffed the air deeply.

"Look out, it's him!" he cried, tensing at the pile of garbage.

The others looked at the pile, then back at Scarmon.

"Scarmon, who are you kidding?" Penguinmon asked. "That's just a pile of garbage."

"Who you call garbage?" the pile demanded.

They all gawked at the pile.

"Oops, me forget not to talk," Junkmon said, pulling himself together and standing to his full height. "Oh well, me catch hoo-mons with that trick anyway."

"So, you're the one who took our partners!" Betamon cried. "Where are they?"

"Them here," Junkmon said. "But you never see them again. Me been waiting for you and me destroy you all. Me am Junkmon of Eight Gods and you never break me!"

"This guy's brain must be rusty too; he's already broken," Penguinmon remarked.

"If our partners are here," Muchomon reasoned, "then we can digivolve now!"

Junkmon laughed. "You try all you want, but you no can digivolve here. Look around."

They all did and noticed the spire chunks perched atop the towers.

Palmon stared at them fearfully. "Those are…"

"…Control Spires," Scarmon finished grimly.

"Unless you find main generator, you no turn off. If you no turn off, you no digivolve. If you no digivolve, you no beat me!"

"Attack!" Scarmon ordered.

Each digimon shot their own respective special attacks at him, trying their best to burn him, smash him, or knock or pull him down. Junkmon let them come and none of their attacks had the slightest effect.

"Okay, now it am my turn! _Shrapnel Bomb!"_

At the name of his attack, he extended his arm, which then blasted forth from him like a missile. They all managed to get out of the way, but when the arm collided with one of the nearby piles, it exploded, sending bits and pieces of sharp metal and heavy bits of machinery everywhere. In this ensuing storm of parts, each digimon went for cover, trying not to avoid getting cut by the debris.

When it was over, Penguinmon, who had ducked and covered, said, "Well, at least now he only has one arm.

"That okay. Me make another!" That said, the pieces that were once a part of his arm slowly began to rise from where they landed, then flew back towards Junkmon. His five opponents again had to dodge the flying debris as it slowly came together, fitting perfectly into the form of his old arm.

"How'd he do that?" Penguinmon demanded.

"I think we need another plan!" Palmon exclaimed. She looked around for something they could use and spotted a grimy-looking can of gasoline sitting among the scrap. She ran over to it and lifted it, shaking it to see if there was anything inside. It felt at least halfway full, so she went with her gut instinct and used her Poison Ivy attack spin around and fling it at Junkmon. The larger digimon was in the midst of laughing at the moment and the can lodged itself in his mouth.

"Quick!" Palmon called. "Someone light it!"

Betamon managed a high leap and poked a hole in the gas can. Muchomon flew towards the stream of flammable liquid. _"Ardent Flame!"_ he attacked, igniting the gasoline, which exploded in a cloud of fire that engulfed Junkmon's head, spreading fire to the rest of his body as well.

"We got him!" Palmon exclaimed.

Junkmon didn't seem to mind, however. Even though he was on fire, his whole body flaming and some parts visibly melting, he made no indication that he was in danger or even that he was in pain.

"That was stupid. All digimon stupid. You no can hurt me! Me am unstoppable!"

"Any other ideas?" Scarmon asked. No one seemed to have any. "Then run for it!" he shouted, dashing out of the flaming giant's way. The others followed, with Junkmon giving chase.

Scarmon was not much of a planner, but he did manage to see something that seemed like the perfect weapon. "Muchomon, hide in the air and hit the button on that machine when I give the word! Palmon, I need you to go to the other side of the machine and pull me out of it when I call for you. You two just hide for now!"

No one else had any ideas, so they let Scarmon handle it. Betamon and Penguinmon split off from the group, as did Palmon and Muchomon, leaving Junkmon to focus only on Scarmon. Scarmon led him to a tall machine and he quickly climbed up a ladder at the side of it, jumping into the hollow space inside. Junkmon blindly followed him into the space, thinking he had him cornered.

"You have nowhere to hide now, stupid lizard," Junkmon said, approaching with his sharp, rusty claws reaching for his prey.

"Who's stupider?" Scarmon asked. "The one who hides inside a giant crash compactor, or the one that follows him into one with no way out? Muchomon! Palmon!"

At that, Muchomon swooped down and hit the ON button as Palmon extended her vines and pulled Scarmon to safety. Junkmon could do nothing as the walls of the compactor closed around him. He gave a ferocious cry of anger which became muffled as he was crushed. Minutes later, all the digimon were present when he was deposited out the back of the compactor in a smashed, smoldering cube.

"Well, that's the end of him," Scarmon said.

"Um…" Betamon began. "Isn't he supposed to delete if it's the end of him?"

Junkmon himself answered that as the cube slowly unraveled and his crumpled body filled out and regained its former shape. In no time at all, he was back to his old form.

"That sneaky," Junkmon growled. "Me not let you trick again! _Junk Rush!"_

This new attack was like nothing they'd ever seen. Junkmon seemed to shatter into all his individual components, then the pieces flew at them in a massive barrage. They couldn't avoid it, and each of them was hit or cut by some object that rushed by.

_How does he do that?_ Penguinmon wondered. _He must have a way that he can—_ He was brought out of these thoughts as something among the other components caught his eye. It was something that was not rusty or grimy and, in fact, it even looked shiny. Then, seconds later, the pieces came back together to form Junkmon anew. Whatever the piece was, it fit somewhere inside him. No, more than that… all the pieces formed around it, like it was the center of his being.

"Okay, I have an idea, but can someone figure out how we can smash him into pieces involuntarily?"

Muchomon flew higher and looked around the junkyard. "I see a way, but someone needs to keep him busy!"

"Leave it to me," Scarmon said. "He's tough, but I'll bet he's not fast enough to outrun me!"

The others left Scarmon to deal with Junkmon while the others followed Muchomon. Scarmon stared down his opponent determinedly.

"Okay, you walking disaster area," Scarmon taunted, "let's see if you have any other fancy moves."

"No fancy," Junkmon replied. "Deadly. _Shrapnel Bomb!"_

Scarmon again had to leap out of the way as the debris flew all around him once, then back past him to reform the arm Junkmon had launched.

"You missed," Scarmon chuckled.

"Did not," Junkmon said, pointing.

Scarmon narrowed his eyes and saw that there was a small gash across his snout. A stray piece of metal had managed to cut him.

"I wish I'd had a tetanus shot before this fight," Scarmon said to himself.

* * *

"This ought to work fine, Muchomon," Penguinmon said. Muchomon had spotted a large crane with an electromagnet at the end. They tested the magnet, which seemed to have worn out (like everything else in the junkyard, it was fairly useless), but it was big and heavy, and might serve as a decent wrecking ball if swung the right way.

"Palmon, Betamon, do you think you can pilot it?" he asked.

The controls were too far from the seat to be reached alone, so Palmon stood on Betamon's back and took hold of them. She moved the levers and managed to lower the magnet low enough to be at Junkmon's height. Then she tentatively began to swivel the crane, letting it swing like a pendulum. "I think I've got it, but do you think it will work?"

"If we can hold him in the right place. I don't think he's smart enough to dodge it if we can keep him distracted. Just keep it swinging while I get Scarmon to bring him here.

Penguinmon ran off towards were Scarmon was holding back Junkmon, and saw that Scarmon was taking a beating. Skilled and fast as he was, he still couldn't avoid all the shrapnel from the attacks.

"Scarmon, this way!" Penguinmon hollered.

"Finally!" Scarmon exclaimed, sounding out of breath and tired. He followed Penguinmon with Junkmon close behind. "What's the plan?" he asked.

"We try and hit him with a big non-functioning electromagnet," Penguinmon said. "Think you can get him to stand in the way?"

"Why do I always have to be the bait?" Scarmon sighed. "Fine, but this better work!"

Scarmon ran straight out into the area. The crane was still swinging the magnet and Junkmon was focused on catching up with Scarmon. It looked like they would get their target. At the last second before the magnet struck, Junkmon simply ducked and the magnet missed him completely. He managed to avoid it when it swung back as well.

"Stupid digimon! I not fall for trap!" he roared, nimbly dodging the magnet.

"Scarmon, can you do something?" Penguinmon called.

"Other than run around like an idiot, no! Find some way to keep him still!"

Scarmon was right. Junkmon was focused on catching Scarmon, but his lumbering clumsiness hid the fact that he was still very fast and agile enough to dodge the magnet each time. And Palmon couldn't swing it fast enough to hit him either. Unless they could hold him still, the plan would fail.

"Penguinmon!" a familiar voice cried jubilantly.

Penguinmon turned to see who spoke, even though he recognized the voice immediately. Amanda stood behind him, her arms spread wide and her face joyous.

"Amanda!" Penguinmon cried, both relieved to see she was unharmed and worried that she was in such a dangerous place. "I'm glad you're all right, but where are the others?"

"Penguinmon!" she exclaimed, scooping him up and hugging him tight.

"Yes, I'm glad to see you too, but you can't stand out in the open; it's too dangerous!"

"Penguinmon…" she said again, holding him at arms length, gazing at him adoringly.

"Uh… are you okay?" he asked, quite unnerved at the fact that her gaze was unfocused and, he realized, still under the influence of the psychotropic berries. This didn't worry him as much as what she did next, though.

Without saying another word, she held him by the scruff of his neck and reared her arm back, as if preparing to throw him. Before he could protest, she shouted, "Penguinmon! I choose you!" and hurled him right at Junkmon's head.

Junkmon might have been prepared for the swinging magnet, but even he could not be prepared for the sight of a flying penguin. And now, that penguin, screaming in fear, hit him square in the face and held on for dear life.

"Get off!" Junkmon roared.

"I'm trying!" he shouted, not pleased with being face to face with the monstrous digimon. Junkmon tried to claw Penguinmon off, but Penguinmon scrambled all over his head evasively. With this bird climbing all over his face, Junkmon found it hard to see and was so enraged that he momentarily forgot about the swinging magnet.

Penguinmon, however, did not forget. He looked up and saw the object coming straight at them. Getting over his fear of falling, he leapt off Junkmon, deciding the ground was a safer place. Junkmon saw the magnet a moment later, but it was just a moment too late.

The magnet came at him and hit him dead on, smashing his whole body and blowing through him like a cannonball. His numerous components were smashed free and torn asunder, scattering his body all over the area.

Penguinmon realized that it wasn't over yet. He frantically searched the wreckage for something and finally saw it. There amid all the scrap was a perfectly round sphere. It was black and shiny like ebony, but it had glowing yellow bands and grooves all around it. It was a part of Junkmon that was uniquely new and high-tech. He dove for it and snatched it up before Junkmon could reform.

"This is it!" he cried to the others. "He uses this to put himself back together. If we destroy it, he can't be rebuilt!"

Junkmon seemed aware of this, even in his dismantled state. His scattered body began to quiver and shake, and the pieces suddenly flew into the air, soaring towards the tiny ball, drawn inevitably by its power.

Penguinmon noticed just in time and knew he didn't have the power to outrun the debris. He looked to Scarmon and quickly threw it to him with all his might. Junkmon's broken form flew after the ball, leaving Penguinmon untouched.

Scarmon caught the ball in his mouth and ran with it, but he too lacked the speed to get away quickly enough. "Muchomon!" he called as best he could with the sphere in his mouth. "Catch!"

He spat the sphere upwards and Muchomon caught it with his feet. He tried to fly away, but the pieces again persued their center. He realized that the only way to keep it away from Junkmon was to pass it along again. He dove towards the crane and let the sphere go, letting Palmon catch it.

"I got it!" she exclaimed. Then she realized that she didn't have anyone to throw it too inside the crane's cockpit. And Junkmon was flying after the sphere. Palmon and Betamon both jumped free of the crane as Junkmon tore through it, shredding the controls in the process and loosening the arm from the rest of the crane. The magnet was pulled all the way to the top of the crane and there was a sound of gears grinding as it continued to pull, even as the magnet could go no higher. The arm of the crane began to creak and groan under the pressure.

Palmon looked around and threw the sphere to the next available recipient: "Amanda!"

Amanda caught the sphere… then proceeded to rub it against her cheek. "Ooh… shiny…" she said.

"Augh! Amanda, no!" Penguinmon exclaimed, managing to snatch it from her before Junkmon could come back around.

He was starting to worry. They couldn't keep up this game of keepaway forever. They would get tired, but Junkmon could follow the sphere endlessly and effortlessly without them getting a chance to destroy it. He saw one last chance and decided to take it.

"Everyone! Attack the base of the crane's arm!" he shouted, running with the sphere towards the center. He had to get it under the magnet at the end of the arm before Junkmon could catch up, and that arm had to give in the next ten seconds. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Junkmon coming back around. Even though he had no face, he could see the light and camera lens that made up his eyes and the bear trap that was his mouth and they seemed to lead the rest of his body. He could hear a clattering, disembodied voice saying, _"Me have you now!"_

The other four digimon were attacking the base of the arm, slamming it, burning and yanking it, but it wasn't giving way quickly enough. Everyone was trying their best, but only Muchomon saw the best solution. He flew up to the top of the arm and simply perched on it, like a pidgeon on a clothesline. The added weight was just enough to make the arm tear away from the body of the crane and it begin to fall to the ground.

_I can't run to the spot in time,_ Penguinmon said to himself. _So, I guess I'll just have to do this:_

_"Slide Attack!"_ he shouted, diving suddenly forward, shooting a small jet of ice around his body and sliding rapidly towards the spot. Once in the shadow of the falling arm, he planted the sphere firmly into the ground and managed to just slide out of the path of the falling arm, which came down with a thunderous crash a second later, crushing the sphere beneath it.

"NO!" The disembodied voice of Junkmon could be heard easily, even though he was still in pieces. Those pieces were not airborne for long. They seemed to slow and then stop, hanging in midair. Then they came down and crashed on the ground, exploding into data, finally deleted.

"We… we did it…" Penguinmon panted.

"That's two plans you saved us with today!" Palmon said, complimenting him. "That just leaves two of the Eight Gods left, and we didn't even have to digivolve!"

"Speaking of digivolve, where are our partners?" Betamon asked.

"Why don't we ask Penguinmon's?" Scarmon suggested.

They all looked to Amanda, who seemed to be doing an impression of a cheerleader and was chanting, _"Ganbarre! Ganbarre! Wa-ta-shi! Ganbarre! Ganbarre! Wa-ta-shi!"_

"Nnno, I think we'd do better on our own," Penguinmon said.

* * *

Hours later, the sun was setting and the whole group was sitting in a semi-circle around a campfire. It had taken a while, but they managed to not only find their partners, but also shut off the hidden generator that was powering the fragmented control spires in case anyone else was unfortunate enough to wander into that junkyard.

"I stink," Mimi complained, sniffing herself and wrinkling her nose disgustedly. "We spent all that time in the junkyard and now I smell like a mechanic that hasn't had a bath in days!"

"Don't worry, Mimi. You don't smell any worse than the rest of us," Michael reassured her.

"That's sweet," she said. "…I think," she added.

"Well, at least one good thing came out of all this," Jin said, leaning over to them. "At least we got some entertainment out of the deal."

This was true. Amanda's manic otaku personality had been heightened by the berries all day, but they finally managed to keep her from running off by convincing her to sing the theme songs from every anime she knew and she was happy to oblige by playing a mix CD of karaoke versions of them while she sang along.

_"Aitai na, aenai na, setsunai na, kono kimochi,"_ she sang. _"Ienai no, iitai no/ Chansu, nogashite bakari…"_

"Uh, Jin?" Ángel asked. _"Qué es eso?"_

"I'm not sure. Mimi?"

"I think it's 'Catch You Catch Me' from 'Card Captor Sakura.' She's kind of cute when she sings it."

"Yeah," Jin agreed. "But it's kinda pissing me off. Who would have thought she could memorize the Japanese lyrics perfectly, but still can't speak the language at all? That's just-"

"Shh! She's at the chorus!"

_"Hore Catch You, Catch You, Catch Me, Catch Me matte!  
Kotchi wo muite suki da to itte  
Sou, Nice to meet you, good to see you kitto!  
Atashi no omoi anato no haato ni  
tonde tonde tonde tonde yuke!  
Ma-yo-wa-na-ri!"_

While this was going on, the five digimon just sat nearby and watched amusedly. "Good to have them back," Betamon said.

"Even if they are noisy," Scarmon grumbled, though it was obvious he felt the same way.

"You know, it's funny," Penguinmon said. "We spent the entire day together fighting and trying our best to rescue them and tomorrow we'll go looking for another fight and try to stop another one of the Eight Gods. And I'll bet none of us even mind. I'll bet we aren't even stressed about what happened today."

The others nodded in agreement.

"But look at them," Penguinmon said. Each of them examined the four humans who watched their friend run out her drug-crazed song. They were relaxed now, but there was a tenseness, a stress they couldn't quite place hiding in each of their eyes. This performance was just a small way to relax their troubled minds, but soon they would return to their unspoken worries.

"You see it? They worry all the time. They went through today as captives and didn't have anything to do but wait around for us, and they're ten times more shaken than we are. We have as much reason to feel that way as they do, but we don't really even care. And they're worrying about what will happen tomorrow too. For some reason, they always worry, like they're running after something, or they're being chased, or they're running out of time. It's got to be the weirdest thing about human behavior."

**To be continued…**

_(Next time: A strange foe with an odd code of honor comes looking for a fight, but not everyone's on the same page when the fight requires some extra teamwork...)_

_P.S. Fun minigame time! Can you figure out each of Amanda's nutty references in this chapter? Leave a **review** if you can name some!  
_


	15. The Battlers

**Chapter Fourteen:**

**Yeah, Sou desu, ¿no? (The Battlers)**

Crocmon groaned under the weight of the debris. A huge mound of dirt, rocks, and other debris were piled on top of him, pinning him down so he couldn't move. He had been badly hurt in the fall and the added weight was making his already considerable pain even worse. At first, he supposed he was lucky that the debris didn't cover his face or he wouldn't have been able to breathe. Then again, he supposed, dying quickly would have been preferable to dying slowly under a pile of rubble at the bottom of the cliff. All he could do now was stare at the stars in the black sky above and curse Scarmon's name.

That black little demon and his friends had beaten him without even digivolving. Now he was further dishonored and further humiliated on top of the fact that Scarmon had almost starved him to death. Now it seemed it was all over. No one would come by an area so remote and rescue him and he would starve or dehydrate and Scarmon would go on unpunished, free to go on without regret—

"No!" he cried. He struggled with all his might to pull himself free, but he couldn't even move his arms or hands enough to dig himself out. After another minute of struggling, he gave up, knowing that it was useless. He had tried several times all day to no avail and it would be pointless to keep trying.

He felt cold. Cold, alone, and only his seething rage was there to keep him company. Then, he felt even colder. The air itself became cold and stale and he had this sense that there was another presence nearby.

"Hello?" he called. "If you can hear me, please help me!"

He heard a small sound. It could have been a sigh, but it sounded more like a chuckle.

"Well, well, well - three holes in the ground - what have we here?" a voice asked. There was a smug kind of mirth in the voice and an iciness that made Crocmon wish he was alone again.

"I can't see you," Crocmon said. "Can you come closer?"

"If you insist," said the stranger. Crocmon turned his head to the sound of the approaching footsteps and squirmed at what he saw. The thing emerged from the dark forest. The creature had a humanoid shape, but in the dark of night, he appeared as a walking shadow, with his form pulsing with dark energy, crackling occasionally, and his eyes were like two bright red coals smoldering on a fire, or splatters of blood upon a slab of obsidian. Crocmon was now trying to claw his way free, desperate to escape this apparition.

"Ah, I forgot about the darkness," the stranger said, and the humor in his voice made Crocmon think that he had not forgotten at all.

"Leave me alone, you demon!" he shouted.

"I could do that. But if I do, you'll die. And if you die, you'll certainly never get your revenge on Scarmon."

Crocmon froze. "You—you know—"

"Oh, sure," the stranger replied with a laugh. "I know you very well. I know your thoughts and of your vendetta against your small rival."

"Can you read my mind?"

"I don't need to," he said, bending down to look him in the eyes, his void of a face inches from Crocmon's. "I'm _inside_ your mind already."

Crocmon whimpered and shut his eyes tight trying to ignore the horrible visage.

"You really are a coward," the stranger sighed. "Of course, if I could be defeated so easily by a bunch of rookies, I wouldn't have a lot of confidence in myself either. But still, if we're going to keep this conversation going, I need your attention."

The stranger reached into a satchel he carried with him and removed a small battery-powered lamp. "I got this from Full Metal City. Lovely technology. I thought I'd need a high-powered light and my instincts were on the money." He set down the lamp and turned it on, bathing the whole area with a brilliant light. "All right, you big baby, you can open your eyes."

Crocmon cautiously did as he was told. He was surprised to see that the demon-man was no longer standing before him. The height and shape of his form was the same, but now he looked like a normal human. Tall, wearing denim and a cowboy hat and boots, he looked nothing like the bizarre creature that had been there before. Crocmon didn't know what a cowboy was, but he did know that this human didn't look the least bit threatening.

"Oh… I'm sorry," Crocmon laughed. "I thought you were some kind of… well, I must have been hallucinating."

"No, it was real," the stranger said, and clicked the lamp off, revealing his dark form once more. Crocmon screamed and the stranger turned on the lamp, this time wearing a sadistic grin. "I never get tired of that. Fear can be very refreshing. Makes me feel young again, and when you're as old as I am, that's always a good thing."

"Who… what is your name?"

"Well, I can't tell you that, but I am best known as Jim Delgado."

"N-nice to meet you Jim," Crocmon said.

"Delgado," he corrected him. "I'm not your buddy. But I will be your ally, and I will help you out of this if you make me a promise."

"What promise?"

"Well, you see, I think we have a common enemy," Delgado said. "The Digidestined. I have some plans for some unfathomable death and destruction on their world and, just for kicks, I'm probably going to make them all suffer horrific and agonizing deaths as well. Among them is your little rival, Scarmon. I can help you get revenge. I might do the job for you, or I might let you handle it yourself, should the opportunity arise. But, in the meantime, I've got something coming up that you would be perfect for."

"What's that?"

"Let me answer that question with one of my own: how would you like to be more powerful? As a Champion, you could defeat Venomon and FlareLizamon, but you're too weak to defeat an Ultimate like Quemamon, and too big and awkward to handle those speedy little Rookies you dealt with yesterday. But if you were stronger, you could take out an Ultimate and be too much for those Rookies to topple. I can offer you digivolution, and it wouldn't take years of gathering energy, like it took for you to digivolve from Gatormon. Sound good?"

Crocmon didn't know what to say. Delgado frightened him, but his desire for revenge was still strong. There was nothing he wanted more than revenge on Scarmon, and along with it he needed to be strong enough to beat such a worthy foe. All he wanted was payback, but what price would Delgado ask for?

"What do you want?" Crocmon asked.

"Your servitude," Delgado asked. "I think you'd be an excellent candidate for this thing I'm testing out, so I'll need you to be a guinea pig for it. If it works, you'll gain the power you seek. And then, I'll need you to work for me. I will have duties for you… aside from killing Scarmon, I mean. And if you say yes, you are mine. Say yes, and you will obey everything I say and you will never be able to leave or betray me. Now, it's a nice job with some decent benefits, but it's all up to you. You can get power at the expense of your freedom, or, if it's so important to you…" Delgado looked at the mass of dirt and rocks pile upon him, "then you can keep your freedom and stay here until you rot."

Some might have felt uneasy or helpless in such a situation and would have agreed only to save their lives, while others would have kept their freedom and taken death rather than serve such a sinister creature. Crocmon did neither of these things:

"If it will lead to making Scarmon pay, I'll do it!" he cried enthusiastically.

Delgado cracked his knuckles. "Somehow, I knew you'd say that. You really are going to be perfect for this job. Well, hold on, and I'll have you out in a jiffy."

Delgado stooped down and grabbed a hold of Crocmon's hand. Without another word of warning, he simply pulled with all his might, ripping Crocmon out from underneath the pile of rubble and tossing him off to the side easily. Crocmon groaned in pain and felt his arm go numb. It had likely been dislocated and being thrown around didn't help his other injuries either.

"Relax," Delgado said. "I can't heal those cuts and bruises, but I'll fix your arm up if you'll hold still." He walked over to Crocmon, who eyed him uneasily. Delgado placed one hand at Crocmon's gigantic shoulder and another took hold of his arm. Then, with a nerve-racking _pop,_ he relocated the arm.

Crocmon tested his arm for a few moments and found that it didn't hurt at all. "Thank you," he said.

"Well, you don't live for a few millennia without picking up a few things. Knowing anatomy comes in handy for my line of work."

Crocmon took one last look at the massive pile of dirt. It seemed to tower even larger now that he had been pulled from it. He then looked to Delgado, who obviously possessed great power, despite his small size. "I owe you my life," he said.

Delgado smiled. "Yes, you do. It is a deal after all." He then leapt onto Crocmon, pinning him to the ground, the pressed his hand to his chest. "And this will seal it," he hissed as dark energy burned his handprint into Crocmon's flesh. Crocmon screamed loudly, but he heard Delgado's voice clearly in his head: _"This is my mark. You have a bit of my essence in you now. If you betray me, you'll die. You will leave this place for Full Metal City. You will leave tonight, and this is what you will do when you get there…"_

* * *

Amanda stirred in her sleep. She had eventually rid herself of the effects of the berries she'd eaten yesterday. It took long enough, but by midnight she had returned to normal. She still felt a little sick, however, and hadn't slept well at all that night. Her tossing and turning had been so bad that Penguinmon refused to share a sleeping bag with her and slept in one of the spares they had taken along instead. She shivered in the morning cold and opened her eyes, waking up for the tenth time that night.

The sky was gray and the sun hadn't yet come up. An eerie mist gathered around the trees of the jungle and the far off sound of mournful birdsong further dampened her mood. She looked to see if Penguinmon was awake, but he was curled up comfortably in his own sleeping bag and she didn't want to disturb him just because she was lonely. She looked over to the center of the camp and saw that Ángel was on watch duty along with Muchomon. He looked lost in his own thoughts and she didn't feel like disturbing him either. All she wanted to do was get some more sleep.

What she really wanted was a teddy bear. She hated to admit it, but she still felt like a little girl at heart and wanted a stuffed animal to snuggle up with. Penguinmon usually worked just as well, but now she had neither him nor a teddy bear. Then she noticed something that might be a decent substitute.

Not too far from her, Jin was fast asleep in his own sleeping bag. He was perfectly still. He probably wouldn't notice if she…

Well, there was only one way to find out. Quietly, stealthily, she began to scoot herself across the ground, getting closer and closer to where Jin slept. Very cautiously, she crossed the last few feet until she was right next to him. She wasn't really pressed to him, but she was close enough so that she could feel the weight and warmth of his body. She could hear his breath come in very slow, very drawn-out sighs.

She felt herself relax for a moment, feeling at ease as she began to drift back off to sleep. But then she noticed how handsome he looked in his sleep and suddenly her pulse began to quicken.

His face, normally so dark, troubled, and angry now looked utterly tranquil, even gentle. His eyes fluttered slightly, as if in some dream, and he drew in a deeper breath, then relaxed again. She noticed his lips, their pinkish color standing out somewhat against his slightly dark complexion. She never noticed their color until now, when she was so close up. Not surprisingly, she found herself recalling when she had spied on Jin back by that lake and kissed him. If she had known how he would react, that she wouldn't get another chance to kiss him, she would have tried to savor the moment and commit the feeling to memory.

_Well,_ she thought with a smile, _he's asleep now. He might not notice, and what he doesn't know won't hurt him._ She moved in closer, her face just inches from his, and now she could even smell him. The many scents he'd picked up tramping through the jungle hung around him like an earthy musk, evoking something primal and intriguing within her. He was so close now, her lips were mere inches from his…

He stirred again and Amanda felt momentary panic, but then he went silent again. She felt her courage leave her and decided against it. After all, she thought: what was the point of kissing someone if they weren't going to kiss back? She supposed that she wouldn't have appreciated it if the situation was reversed, either.

_Oh well,_ she thought. _It doesn't hurt to look. Or sleep next to him. If he's mad when he wakes up, I'll just say I probably moved closer in my sleep. Or that _he_ moved instead. He'll believe that._

She chuckled to herself and slowly began to close her eyes. Right before she let them shut, she whispered one final phrase: "Everybody's working for the weekend…"

Jin's bloodshot eyes popped open. He stared at her with all the sudden fury of a wild animal.

"Uh… good morning?" she asked sheepishly.

"You little...!" Jin's hands flew to drawstrings on her sleeping bag and he cinched it up, sealing her inside. Then he got up, lifted her (with her struggling and protesting all the way), and deliberately carried her to the nearest hillside. He then set her on the ground, gave her a slight push with his foot, and let her roll down the hillside and into the nearby lake. After all the commotion, the whole camp was wide awake.

When Amanda finally managed to get free of her wet sleeping bag, she stormed, dripping wet, back into the camp. Jin was busy brushing his teeth and Amanda walked right up to him.

"What's the big idea, you jerk?"

"Yu dzherved t, pvvit," he replied before spitting.

"Beg pardon?"

"I said, 'You deserved it, pervert.'"

Amanda smacked him with her wet sleeping bag. "Who are you calling a pervert?" she demanded.

"You," Jin replied calmly. "What's the matter with you, scooting next to me like that? Get it through that thick fangirl skull of yours: I'm not your boyfriend, I don't want to be your boyfriend, and if you don't quit hanging on me like a lovesick puppy, then next time I'll staple your sleeping bag shut and throw you into deeper waters."

Amanda noticed that this little argument had caught the eyes of the other three and all the other digimon. She turned beet red in a mixture of embarrassment and rage. "Oh… oh yeah?" she sputtered. "W-well, who wants you for a boyfriend anyway? You're mean! And weird, too! I mean, who brushes his teeth before they've even had breakfast?"

"I'm brushing my teeth in case you kissed me before I woke up. I don't want to catch whatever germs you have that make you a complete nutcase."

"You don't really believe I kissed you, do you?" She smirked at him. "After all, if you really thought that you'd be as red as a stoplight, _little boy_."

Jin didn't react to her dig. "I've gotten used to you acting like this, so nothing you say can make me blush, even if you did kiss me," he said confidently.

"Hey," Scarmon said, jumping in, "ya suppose she put her tongue in?"

Jin nearly choked on the toothpaste foam and, as predicted, turned as red as a stoplight. Amanda was looking fairly stoplight-ish as well by this time.

"This is actually pretty entertaining," Michael whispered to Mimi as they looked on.

"We really shouldn't laugh," Mimi said, trying to stifle a giggle.

"That's it, I'm out of here," Jin growled. "Come on, Ángel, let's go scrounge up some breakfast."

Ángel and Muchomon shrugged, then followed Jin and Scarmon and the four of them left the camp. Amanda, for her own part, gathered up some dry clothes and went to the woods to change.

* * *

"Is something bothering you, Jin?" Ángel asked once they were a safe distance from camp.

"Yeah, the tiny otaku with the overactive hormones."

"I think you are overreacting," Muchomon said.

"I think you two are _under_reacting," Scarmon grumbled. "She's lucky Jin woke up instead of me. I would have just bitten her lips off. Problem solved!"

"Sounds like a solution to me," Jin agreed, enjoying a laugh with his partner.

"What are you so angry about?" Ángel asked. "Amanda did not really do anything wrong. I... don't believe she really kissed you." Jin failed to notice the change in Ángel's voice that indicated that perhaps he just _hoped_ that wasn't true.

"I'm just sick of her hanging around me. She embarrasses me, she clings to me like I'm her boyfriend, and she's just annoying. You remember yesterday, after she ate all those berries and spent the whole day singing or babbling? I think we were all ready to strangle her."

"Well…" Ángel had to admit that she had been pretty annoying. "Yes, but—"

"Even her digimon is embarrassed. We shouldn't even have a little brat kid like that around. She's hardly more than a baby and she has no idea how serious this all is. She pulls herself together sometimes, sure, but then goes right back to pulling stupid crap like... like what just happened! She's going to get us all killed next time she wanders off somewhere looking for an adventure!"

"Oh, I don't know… I think she is getting better about that kind of thing."

"I don't," Jin said. "Back at Aristomon's manor, she almost got Mimi killed by being thick-headed and getting caught up in the royal treatment. And for all her smarts, when has she ever told us anything really useful? She got lucky with SuperStarmon, but that's about it. She's immature, and if it wasn't for her partner fusing with Seadramon to form Freezedramon, I'd suggest leaving her at the nearest digiport and going ahead without her!"

Ángel and Muchomon both stood stunned. "This is not just about her sleeping next to you, is it?" Muchomon asked.

"No," Jin answered. "I'm not just annoyed with her. I'm _sick_ of her. To tell the truth…" he took a deep breath, "…I'm really starting to hate her!"

Even Scarmon seemed ill-prepared for that last statement, but, like all his partners decisions, he quickly shrugged and went along with it. Ángel and Muchomon weren't quite ready for this. "You…" Ángel swallowed, hardly able to believe his ears. "You do not mean that."

"Come on," Jin snapped, walking away. "I don't want to talk about her. Let's get something to eat. The little rat's even more annoying when she's hungry."

* * *

Amanda looked herself over in the compact mirror Mimi had given her. Examining her features carefully, she was once again reminded of how normal looking she really was. Mimi had flowing chestnut hair, Amanda had limp, gloomy strands that hung from her head. Mimi was a young woman with a slim figure and a confident posture, while she was still a short, _squat_ (she hated the word, but she couldn't help but think it) girl who clumsily shuffled wherever she went. Mimi had big, beautiful eyes, while Amanda… well, her glasses distorted their image, making them look freakishly large. Without them…

She took off the glasses to get a better look at her eyes. Of course now her vision was completely blurry and she couldn't see a thing, so she squinted very hard at got very close to the mirror, but then she just looked like she had one big squinty eye and—

"Oh, forget it!" she cried, snapping the mirror shut and putting on her glasses.

"What's wrong, Amanda?" Mimi asked, coming back to camp with a small bundle of sticks for the fire.

"Mimi, am I pretty?"

"Of course you are!" Mimi exclaimed without hesitation.

Amanda blinked a few times. "Really?" she asked hesitantly.

"I think so," Mimi said. "You were so cute when you were playing dress up back at my house!"

"I am not just some kid playing dress up!" she grumbled, fuming.

"Oh, I know that," Mimi laughed. "Come on, what's the matter?"

"Well… you think I'm pretty… so why doesn't Jin like me?"

"Umm… hmm…" Mimi thought her answer over carefully. Everyone in the general vicinity sank as they realized that this would take a while. Penguinmon started to hum the "Jeopardy" theme. "I think," she replied finally, "that boys are weird and who knows what they're thinking!"

Amanda sighed.

"Oh, I know! Why don't you ask Michael, since he's your digivolving partner?"

Michael started to sneak away at the mention of his name.

"Michael!" Mimi called. Michael froze, knowing he was caught. "Will you talk to Amanda please? I'm going for more firewood."

Michael nodded and went over to Amanda. "All right, what is it?"

"Well, like I asked Mimi: why doesn't Jin like me? And remember," she added, "that as my DNA digivolve partner it would be a real shame for you to lie to me."

Michael shrugged. "Because you're 12."

"What? I'm 13!"

He looked at her. He'd never asked, but she looked young. 12 had been a guess but she certainly didn't look like she was 13. Ángel was 13 and he looked quite a bit more mature than Amanda, who was quite a bit shorter and, well, awkward-looking. "All right," he said, "when was your birthday?"

She crossed her arms. "Last April. The 21st."

He figured. She hadn't been 13 for long. Not much more than a month.

"Anyway, whatever. So I'm 13, what's that matter?"

"He's 16. I think he turns 17 this year. You're almost too young for me, and I'm only a year older than you. There's just a lot of difference between us. I know you said you'd try to be more mature, but there are some things you just can't help. You're still the youngest, and I know you think that being smart or mature makes a difference, but it doesn't. A lot of things happen between 13 and 16, and Jin… well, I wouldn't normally say this, but, I just think Jin's too mature for you."

She looked flabbergasted. "What, you mean Mr. 'Came-of-Age-in-the-Wilderness'? How is he any more mature than I am?"

"Even if he's got the dating experience of someone your age, he's still been through a lot. That makes him mature and more serious in other ways. He's annoyed because you make him feel like a kid when you embarrass him, but he's _physically_ older than you, and, well, it still counts."

Amanda sighed dejectedly. "He sure was mad today," she remarked. Then she thought of something else that bothered her worse. "Michael… does Jin… does Jin hate me?"

"Well… no. No, of course not."

"Why did you hesitate?"

"I just wasn't prepared for the question," he replied quickly.

"Oh really?" she asked untrustingly. "Name one nice thing he's said about me."

Michael opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came. He tried very hard to think of a good reply, but, try as he might, he couldn't recall a single time when Jin had complimented her directly or even mentioned something nice about her. "Uh..."

"Excuse me," a new voice said.

Michael should have been startled, but he was actually just grateful for being spared from answering. He and Amanda both turned to face the newcomer.

The stranger looked like a giant panda. At seven feet it was much larger than a normal-sized panda and it was obviously a digimon. It had large, serious eyes and it stared at them, scrutinizing them with care. It also had a white duffel bag slung over its shoulder and, most notably, a long red cape fastened around its neck. It would have looked like a toy bear except for its serious demeanor.

"Uh, can we help you?" Michael asked.

"Are you the Digidestined?" it asked.

"Who are you?" Betamon asked, cutting in suspiciously.

"I suppose it was rude of me not to give my own name first." It set its bag on the ground and then bowed respectfully. "I am Pandamon."

Michael and Amanda both looked at each other. Whoever this stranger was, it was hard to tell what his intentions were. He didn't seem particularly friendly, nor was he aggressive, but they were both suspicious as to why he was looking for the Digidestined.

"Now, tell me who you are," Pandamon said.

"Why do you want to know?" Penguinmon asked.

Pandamon sighed. "I don't have time for this." A second later, the space where he had stood was empty and a black and white blur shot past them. When they turned to look, he was holding Michael up by the waist in one large paw.

"Michael!" Betamon exclaimed helplessly.

"Hmm… ah, there it is," Pandamon said, turning the boy around, examining him closely. "You may go," he said, setting him back on the ground gently.

"What… what were you doing?" Michael demanded.

"Checking for a digivice. You have one clipped at your belt. So you are the Digidestined."

Pandamon seemed totally apathetic to his own discovery. He simply strolled back past them, gathered up his duffel bag, then moved it to the far side of the clearing before putting it down again. With an air of ceremony, he took a deep breath, then cracked his knuckles. "Are the others going to be back soon?"

"What others?" Amanda asked innocently.

"There are ten of you in all. I counted ten different footprints in this camp. I'd say… five humans, two avian digimon, one reptilian quadruped, an amphibian, and a plant type biped." He narrowed his eyes. "It would be better for you if they arrive soon. You may have no chance of winning this fight otherwise."

"I'm back!" Mimi hollered, returning with Palmon in tow. She dropped the firewood when she saw the newcomer and the grave looks on all their faces. "Oh no, are we going to have to get into _another_ fight?"

"Stop acting cowardly, humans," Pandamon said. "I have come here to fight the legendary Digidestined and all I have seen so far have been displays of weakness. You digimon there: digivolve now and face me, or your human partners will suffer for your reluctance."

"I think, he's serious," Palmon said. "Well, if wants us to digivolve, it's his funeral." The other two digimon nodded.

_"Palmon digivolve to… Togemon!"_

_"Betamon digivolve to… Seadramon!"_

_"Penguinmon digivolve to… Frigimon!"_

Pandamon smiled. "Finally…" he whispered.

_"Togemon digivolve to… Lilymon!"_

_"Seadramon…"_

_"Frigimon…"_

_"…DNA digivolve to… Freezedramon!"_

"That's better," Pandamon said, looking over his two opponents as they took to the air. "I can sense a lot of power in both of you. That's very good. I only hope that you'll put up as good a fight as they say you do."

_"Flower Cannon!"_ Lilymon attacked, leveling the blast at Pandamon.

Pandamon simply stood there, both hands behind his back. The shot only took a second to make its way through the air to where he stood, but Pandamon simply sidestepped the blast at the last instant wasn't moved any further by the explosion of the shot as it blasted the ground. When it was over, Pandamon looked at the crater left by the blast, then looked back to Lilymon. "That attack... it's very slow," he said.

Freezedramon noted the speed and agility of the creature. He didn't look like much, but it was obvious that Pandamon was more skilled than he let on. _Well, if he wants a fight, I can give him one._ "Okay, smart guy!" Freezedramon yelled. "Dodge this: _Ice Scales!"_

The quick turn of Freezedramon's body and subsequent flurry of dozens of blade- like scales of ice apparently caught Pandamon off guard and his eyes widened as he saw them coming. Rather than sidestepping them, he did a series of rapid back-flips, narrowly avoiding the ice scales. However, he quickly found himself with his back against a tree and more of the scales were coming. Tensing up slightly, he raised his hands before him.

Michael, Mimi, and Amanda, as well as their digimon watched in awe as Pandamon's hands flew like a swarm of insects. For each scale, he had a hand up just in time, and when it was over he had two handfuls of the scales he caught.

"He's so fast!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Don't just volley attacks at me and expect to win," Pandamon growled. "If you wish to test my abilities, then allow me to return the favor." Pandamon glanced at Mimi. "Catch!" he shouted, and threw the ice scales at her.

_"No!"_ Lilymon shrieked, flying to block the scales, knowing in her heart that she would never make it, that the scales would reach Mimi first, and then she would—

But the scales did not reach her. Before Mimi even had time to realize what was happening, she was suddenly tackled off her feet and the scales soared by, embedding themselves deep into a nearby tree. Mimi looked up to see Michael's worried face looking back down at her.

"Mimi! Are you all right?" he asked.

"Um… yes, I think so," she replied.

"Oh… g-good," he said, feeling his cheeks redden as he rolled off of her, letting her stand.

"That's pathetic," Pandamon said. "I wanted to see her digimon's reaction, not the other human!"

"You'll pay for that!" Lilymon shouted, flying fist first at Pandamon. She tried her best to punch or kick him, but each attack was deflected as Pandamon backed up, stood his ground, or shoved her away. All the while, his expression was grave and his eyes were calm.

Lilymon wasn't giving up yet. _"Flower Wreath!"_

Pandamon was unable to follow her as she encircled him rapidly and then bound his arms fast with the wreath of flowers. She then reared back to launch an attack, believing him to be defenseless.

_She moves fast, but she doesn't take full advantage of it,_ thought Pandamon. _Well, she'll have to learn the hard way._ Pandamon jumped into the air, his arms still bound, and raised his foot for a massive kick above her. _"Animal Nail!"_ he bellowed.

The force of the kick could be felt even several yards away by the nearby humans. Lilymon was hit right in the stomach and knocked from the air in which she hovered, slamming the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust as she tumbled away. She stood haltingly, barely able to breathe, and flew right at Pandamon, her fist raised.

Pandamon gritted his teeth and strained with his arms until the Flower Wreath snapped. A second later, Lilymon's fist was mere inches from his face. Yet no one was more surprised than Lilymon when Pandamon simply leaned all the way backward, dodging the punch and bracing himself with one hand. With the other hand, he snatched Lilymon as she flew by. He then put all of his strength into standing and bounding forward, yanking Lilymon forward and slamming her onto the ground.

"He fights like a Judo master," Mimi said, in spite of her concern for Lilymon.

Now that Pandamon had Lilymon down, he showed no mercy. He raised his foot and stomped with all his might on her chest. Her eyes bulged as the air was forced from her lungs. Her ribcage felt like it had been shattered and she could do nothing but gasp for air as Pandamon took a step back.

"Lilymon!" Mimi cried.

_I don't think _**that** _is allowed in Judo,_ Michael thought, wincing at the sight.

"If you aren't able to stand now," Pandamon said, stepping back, "then you will not get another chance to defeat me."

_"Breath of the Winter God!"_

Pandamon saw the pillar of ice and snow coming upon him like an avalanche. In his brief skirmish with Lilymon, he had almost forgotten that Freezedramon was standing by.

As for Freezedramon, he couldn't see what happened after he launched the attack, since there was so much snow billowing out from the attack. It created a virtual cloud outside the column of the main attack, but when it was over, there was no sign of Pandamon. _I must have blown him to pieces with that attack,_ Freezedramon said to himself. Then he heard Amanda shout to him: "Freezedramon, above you!"

He looked up and saw Pandamon coming down upon him. _He can fly?_ Freezedramon wondered. Then he realized that it was not flying, but jumping. Pandamon had simply jumped over the attack, his strong legs propelling him into the air like a rocket.

Pandamon landed on Freezedramon's nose and stared into the eyes of his much larger adversary. "You are very powerful, but—"

Freezedramon roared and took to the air, trying to shake Pandamon off his snout, but the smaller digimon held on tight, his claws gripping between the large, reptilian scales.

"—but you are not living up to your potential. You have no skill, no polished technique. That is why you will lose."

"Shut up and get off of my face!"

"As you wish." With a quick turn, he removed his red cape and threw it over Freezedramon's eyes. Then, while Freezedramon was blinded and busied with trying to see clearly, Pandamon flipped up over Freezedramon's head and landed straddling the back of his massive neck.

"This battle would be better fought on the ground," Pandamon said. _"Bamboo Punch!"_

The attack would not be taken seriously if one only knew its name, but, like Pandamon, it held great hidden power. The punch that Pandamon delivered to the back of Freezedramon's head was so powerful that it shattered Freezedramon's crystalline hide and shards of ice flew from the point of impact. Freezedramon roared in pain and, thus blinded and injured, he crashed into the forest below, obliterating whole trees with his massive body, the earth shaking as smashed into it.

Pandamon had jumped off Freezedramon before the impact and was unharmed, but he noticed that Freezedramon was still struggling to stand up.

Pandamon simply rushed at him and let loose with several punches to his head, smacking him around like an oversized doll, until, head lolling, Freezedramon let out a groan and collapsed, then de-digivolving back into Betamon and Penguinmon, who continued to lay there, exhausted and injured.

"That was too easy," Pandamon grumbled. "I really expected more from you all. When I heard that you had eliminated six of my fellow Eight Gods, I thought you would prove worthier opponents."

"Mimi…" Lilymon groaned. "Get… get out of here. I'll… take care… of him…"

"No, you can't even stand up!" Mimi cried. "Just de-digivolve and try to rest."

"But who will defend you," Lilymon asked, "if I don't fight him?" She tried to sit up, and get to her feet, her broken ribs hurting so badly she could barely see through the blinding pain.

"Your will is admirable," Pandamon said. "It pains me to see you suffer. But I do have a mission to fulfill. I will let you all live until your companions arrive. Unless," he added, "they are as weak as you, in which case, you should give up now and tell me which of you wants to die."

Mimi gawked. "Which one—"

"As long as I eliminate one of you, my work is done. It is the least I must do. So which of you will give up their life to spare the others? Please, at least try to die with honor: one of you can save the others by sacrificing his or her life. It would be dishonorable to let me decide."

"Who are you to talk about honor?" asked a familiar voice. "Where's the honor in attacking without warning? And before breakfast, too!"

"Quemamon…" Lilymon breathed. Seeing that there was someone else to lend a hand, she gave up holding onto her form and reverted back to Palmon.

"We heard the noise while we were looking for food," Ángel said as he and Jin arrived on the scene.

"We figured you'd need us," Jin explained. He looked at Pandamon's battered and de-digivolved victims. "And it looks like we were right."

Pandamon sized up his opponent. This new digimon didn't look like he had the power of flight like the others, but he had a ready stance that hinted at other talents. This one wasn't going to be as easy to beat, but he remained confident that, like these other Digidestined fools, he wouldn't be much trouble.

"All right, my fiery-haired opponent," Pandamon said, raising a paw and beckoning him with one finger. "Come."

Quemamon complied without hesitation. He dashed straight at Pandamon and then jumped into the air, trying to strike with a flying punch to his face. Pandamon, with his usual nonchalance simply hopped back and let Quemamon hit the ground where he'd stood. Quemamon didn't let Pandamon's evasion get the best of him. He sprang forward at Pandamon and tried to land another punch, but Pandamon simply dodged that as well, and this time backhanded Quemamon, knocking him backwards. But rather than landing flat on his back, Quemamon leaned back onto his arms, dispersing the force of the fall and letting his legs curl up toward his body, folding like an accordion. Then he let that tension go and sprang back at Pandamon feet-first, kicking him square in the chest.

Pandamon grunted in surprise, frustration, and (this was the best news for the onlookers) a good amount of pain. Still trying to hold onto the upper hand, he grabbed onto Quemamon's legs and then began to spin him around by his ankles. Quemamon struggled to get free or find something to anchor himself with, but it was useless. Pandamon released him, sending him flying at a nearby tree.

"You're finished!" Pandamon shouted, a victorious smile on his face.

Quemamon put out one hand and tried to redirect his body in mid-air. "Not yet!" he snarled. He managed to catch hold of the tree, rather than smashing into it, and swung around it like it was a fire pole, flying back at Pandamon, who was too surprised to react as Quemamon rocketed at him, his arm still out, and caught him by the throat, clotheslining him.

The force of the last attack brought Pandamon onto his back, smashing his head into the ground as he gasped for breath.

_I must be more careful,_ Pandamon told himself. _That nearly broke my neck!_

"I don't know who you are," Quemamon said, "but you made a huge mistake attacking my friends, you overgrown toy. I'm going to send you back where you came from in a little, smoking box!"

Pandamon didn't reply, but he was good and angry now. He wasn't going to stand for insults from an amateur. He stood quickly and aimed a kick at Quemamon, but Quemamon caught his foot and threw it upwards, putting Pandamon on his back once again. Quemamon tried to follow it up by stomping on him, but Pandamon rolled quickly out of the way, preparing to defend himself.

He was not prepared enough, apparently. Quemamon went into a series of vicious punches, battering Pandamon with his powerful, flame-wreathed hands. Each time he tried to block, Quemamon chose another spot to strike and did so too quickly for Pandamon to counterattack or grab onto him or much of anything else. When this barrage of punches was over, Pandamon staggered back, eyeing his opponent dizzily. _I can sense his strength… it's been increasing and… is he... glowing?_

He did not have the opportunity to find out. Before his vision cleared, Quemamon went for the kill: _"Plasma Column!"_

The stream of green plasma blew Pandamon off his feet and back into the woods, sending an explosion of smoldering wood and bits of fur out from the point of impact. When it was over, there was only a massive wall of smoke and no sign of Pandamon.

"Is that what all the fuss was about?" Quemamon asked, cracking a smile. "I hardly broke a sweat."

Jin and Ángel both looked equally satisfied until Amanda came running over to them. "My hero!" she cried playfully, glomping on to Jin.

"Get lost!" Jin growled, shoving her off very roughly, pushing her to the ground.

Everyone, Quemamon included, looked on in shock. Amanda stared back in shock at Jin, searching his face for some sign of remorse, that he was sorry for what he did, but there was only anger and disdain. In fact, he looked like he wanted to strike her.

"Jin!" Ángel exclaimed angrily. "What's wrong with you? That was not-"

"Shut up. I'll do whatever I feel like," Jin growled.

"Wait... look!"

Now Jin saw that Ángel was pointing towards the trees. Through the cloud of smoke, a figure emerged.

"It can't be!" Michael gasped.

And yet it was. Pandamon stepped back into the clearing, his fur singed, his expression pained, and yet he still had a look of confidence.

"You are quite skilled. I underestimated you and you've managed to injure me." He did not look angry. Instead, he looked strangely _grateful._ "An opponent less skilled than myself would have taken the full force of that and been destroyed! What an attack! Shall we continue?"

This was obviously a bad sign. Quemamon's Plasma Column was a devastating attack that should have hurt Pandamon much more seriously. After all, he wasn't protected by metal plating or anything else that would lessen the effect, and yet he'd managed to survive the attack that had annihilated Orochimon in one blow.

"You asked for it," Quemamon replied, rushing at Pandamon. He raised his fist and simply punched Pandamon in the face.

Rather than rolling with this punch, however, Pandamon simply took it. He looked completely unfazed. Quemamon seemed not to notice and landed two more jabs, neither of which even moved Pandamon in the slightest.

Pandamon frowned. "Something's wrong... I could have avoided those punches easily. Why are you moving so much slower? And why do you punch so lightly? Are you holding back? Do you now hold me in such low regard?"

"Shut up!" Quemamon roared, striking at him again.

Pandamon caught Quemamon's fist with ease. "No... you _aren't_ holding back, are you? Even now, I can sense that you're not fighting up to your full potential. Something is different." He narrowed his eyes. "Your energy has left you."

"Let go!" Quemamon shouted, struggling to get free of Pandamon's grip.

"Well, if you're not going to fight for real, then there is no point in this. _Bamboo Punch!"_

The punch that had shattered Freezedramon's hide slammed into Quemamon's abdomen. He sailed backwards and tumbled head over heels, nearly bowling over his two partners in the process. Quemamon tried to stand, now visibly shaking, and failed, collapsing onto the earth.

"Come on, get up!" Jin commanded. "You can't lose now!"

"He is right, Quemamon, you can do it!" Ángel called.

"No," Pandamon told him. "He can't. He doesn't have the strength to shake off that last attack. He's already lost."

Quemamon groaned, staggering to his feet. "I can still... fight..."

Pandamon sighed. "It is pointless. You don't have the strength to beat me now."

_"Urusai, tonto!"_ Quemamon shouted.

Both Jin and Ángel gawked at Quemamon confusedly.

"'Shut up—'" Jin repeated translating the first word.

"'—Stupid?'" Ángel finished.

"I don't know what you just said," Pandamon sighed, "but you don't have to worry about anything for now. I've decided I'm not going to kill you or your friends right now."

They all looked to each other.

"Thank you?" Michael offered hesitatingly.

"Don't thank me yet," Pandamon went on. "I have a little offer to make you, Quemamon."

Quemamon snarled as he looked up, nearly blind with rage at his defeat.

"You see, I'm always hoping that I will encounter a worthy foe while I'm doing a job with the other Eight Gods. When we were 'hired' to fight you Digidestined, I had hoped for a decent battle. Unfortunately, you are the only one who shows signs of skill. You are not as fast as the fairy, nor as strong as the dragon, but your skill is impressive and, for a moment, you had me bested. Now your strength has left you. I'm giving you one day to practice these skills and then fight me at noon tomorrow at a place of my choosing. Just the two of us using only our skills. And here is the best part: no special attacks. We will only use our bodies, and not our powers. Does it not sound marvelous?"

Quemamon chuckled. "What makes you think we'll show up?"

"I would think, as a warrior, you would show up anyway. But you will come, and you will follow my terms," Pandamon assured him. "That is, if you wish to claim your… _prize."_ At that last word, he put his fingers to his lips and let a sharp whistle fly. At that signal, a much smaller figure flew out from the trees and dashed for Amanda. It stopped right in front of her.

The creature was small, with two arms and legs, and a red hood. Jin thought it vaguely resembled a radish.

"What the—?"

"The name is Ninjamon," the digimon said to Amanda. Then, before she could reply, he gave a quick turn and landed a kick to the back of Amanda's head. She fell forward and hit the ground unconscious. Before anyone knew what was happening, Ninjamon had gathered up Amanda and took off with her slung over his shoulder.

"Stop!" Penguinmon cried. "Don't just stand there, she's being kidnapped! Somebody do something!"

But Ninjamon's speed was impressive, and he was already gone before anyone could stop him.

"Actually, there _is_ something you can do," Pandamon assured them calmly. "Have Quemamon prepare himself. I'll send for him tomorrow. If you win the battle, my friend, then the girl will be returned to you, unharmed, on my honor. If I win, or you refuse to show up, she dies."

"You monster! Give her back!" Penguinmon shouted, running at Pandamon. Michael quickly ran to him and held him back protectively.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Quemamon," Pandamon said with a smirk. "I hope you'll fight well."

Then, just like that, Pandamon gathered up his duffel bag, and left without another word, fading back into the forest without a trace.

* * *

Not very much farther off, the Ancient Enemy himself, the great nemesis of the Digidestined and the whole of the Digital World, was on a path in the middle of a forest picking dandelions. They were the fluffy kind, the seeds sprouting downy tufts to be carried on the wind. Delgado was not blowing the seeds into the wind, for that would cause the seeds to spread, maybe take root, and life would go on. Instead, Delgado pulled out the seeds and crushed them between his fingers, grinding the seeds to dust.

"I am so bored, and those idiot Eight Gods are dropping like flies, but there are still a few stragglers. Maybe they'll put up more of a fight for those kids, make it interesting, break a few bones. If I didn't have some business in that town..." He heaved a sigh. "If I can't find something _animate_ to kill in the next five minutes, I'm going to start ripping up this forest tree by tree!"

It was then that he caught the sound of footsteps. No, it was not footsteps; it was the gallop of hooves. It was approaching him and he waited for whatever it was to show its face.

From a nearby path, a Centaurumon came upon him. Right on his heels came a Knightmon and an Apemon.

"He must have come this way!" Centaurumon exclaimed.

"I don't see him," Knightmon said doubtfully.

"No," said Apemon. "He went this way. I can still smell him."

"Can I help you gentlemon?" Delgado asked innocently, trying to get their attention. They all looked down at him, noticing him for the first time.

"Is he a bitman?" Knightmon asked.

Delgado grinned. They thought he was one of the data-based humanoids, like the legendary Gennai that had assisted the Digidestined many times in the past.

"You should leave while you still can, friend," Centaurumon warned him. "There is a great and deadly digimon on the loose!"

"And you're all hunting it?" Delgado asked.

"It must be stopped before it hurts anyone else!" Apemon cried, raising his bone club determinedly.

"Oh, is it one of those Eight Gods I've been hearing about?" Delgado asked, sure that the answer would be "Yes."

"No," Centaurumon replied.

Delgado raised an eyebrow. "But I heard they had overrun this island—"

"They're a nuisance. They've been occupying our forests and trade routes, robbing our villages and taking over whole areas of the continent, but, if you haven't heard, the Digidestined have destroyed most of them, and no one has seen the last two. They probably ran for their lives and left us in peace."

Delgado wanted to explode. Now these common trash were looking down their noses at the ones he had picked as his soldiers. They were supposed to be a challenge, but they were being dismissed far too easily.

"Then, who are you hunting for?"

"We don't have time for this," Knightmon said.

"Wait," Apemon said. "He might know something. We should tell him."

"I agree," Centaurumon said. "We are looking for a gigantic, gluttonous creature called Gargantumon."

_Gargantumon?_ Delgado thought. _I haven't seen one of those in a few centuries! I thought they had all been wiped out ages ago. Now THAT'S a rare digimon!_

"It attacked our community two days ago," Centaurumon continued. "It raided our farms and ate all our crops, breaking into silos and devouring all in sight. We thought it was just a nuisance, but when we tried to shoo it away, it ruthlessly attacked our guards. Many of us were injured and some were deleted in the battle. It managed to escape, but now the three of us have tracked it down and we intend to make it pay for what it did. So, have you seen it?"

"No, I'm afraid I haven't," Delgado answered.

"You see?" Knightmon sighed. "We've been wasting our—"

"Quiet!" Apemon hissed. "I thought I heard something," he whispered.

"Heard something?" Centaurumon whispered back. "What?"

"I don't know, I just—"

He would never finish his reply. From behind him, a glistening red mass shot out of seemingly nowhere and ensnared him, pulling him backwards. He let out a scream that was cut short when there was a loud _crunch_ and the sound of data shattering.

"Apemon!" Knightmon cried.

"Take this, monster! _Solar Ray!"_

The beam attack from Centaurumon's hand would hit nothing but air, for as soon as he attacked, the target exploded from the treetops, leaping over them in a great, wide bound. Delgado could feel the wind from the massive creature passing by and its tremendous body totally eclipsed the sun, casting a great shadow on them all. It landed in the woods on the opposite side of the path, still hidden from view.

"I'll go in!" Knightmon said, drawing his sword. "Cover me!"

Centaurumon complied as Knightmon charged into the woods. Moments later, Knightmon was thrown back out onto the path. He tried to get up, but then a gigantic, clawed foot emerged from the woods and stomped down on him. Delgado watched with a grin as Knightmon groaned in agony, his armor crumpling as he was crushed. Knightmon shattered into data as Gargantumon applied his full weight on his foot.

"It ends here, monster!" Centaurumon shouted. _"Solar—"_

_"Tongue Lash!"_ Gargantumon bellowed. Using the same long, prehensile tongue he'd used to ensnare Apemon, Gargantumon smacked Centaurumon off his four legs, then, while he was vulnerable, grabbed him, threw him into the air, and caught him in his cavernous jaws, delivering the crushing bite that was his doom.

"Impressive!" Delgado laughed, applauding as if he was at a show. "You finished those three off like a dessert tray!"

Gargantumon turned his attention to Delgado at last. Standing nearly ten stories tall, Gargantumon towered above him. He made no effort to reply, but shot his tongue out at Delgado, hoping to grab another meal.

He couldn't believe it when the puny creature caught hold of his tongue with one hand, clenching it forcefully. Gargantumon tried to pull it back, but the creature's grip was strong.

"You don't want to eat me," Delgado said, raising his other hand and letting dark energy flow from it like smoke. "A creature like you needs a strong hand to guide him. I've got an offer for you, my friend. You'll need to relocate, but what would you say to three square meals a day and plenty of little creatures to stomp on?"

Gargantumon smiled, showing a mouthful of teeth. Delgado giddily noted that each one of those teeth was larger than any of the Digidestined.

* * *

"Come on, hit him!" Jin shouted.

Togemon took a deep breath and took another swing at Quemamon, who again parried her fist with ease. Mimi, Ángel, and the others all stood nearby, watching as the two of them fought. This was all Jin's idea. Seeing them all defeated so easily had disgusted him and he wasn't shy about showing it. The same went for Quemamon. He had done well for a short while in his fight against Pandamon, but now that he had been challenged to a duel set for tomorrow, Jin insisted that he train.

It had seemed like a decent idea, but Togemon was beginning to wonder what more Quemamon needed to practice. They were working on blocking, dodging, parrying, etc., and Togemon couldn't land a punch on him. She might have felt more confident if she had been allowed to digivolve to Lilymon, but Jin said that she was closer to Pandamon's body type and fighting style as Togemon and made a better sparring partner to boot.

"So, I know how Jin and Scarmon got so strong," Mimi said to Michael. "But what about Muchomon? Do you think that he's helping out?"

"Well, he's half of Quemamon," Michael replied.

"Well, that's what I mean," Mimi went on, trying to articulate her thoughts. A lot of people found her incapability with words tiresome, but Michael found it somewhat endearing to watch her struggle to say exactly what she meant, which wasn't any easier in her English. "I mean… if Quemamon gets his skills from his two halves, then he would be even stronger if Scarmon _and_ Muchomon had training."

"Oh, I see," Michael said. "Actually, I heard Jin and Ángel talking about it. Apparently Ángel's been training his partner almost as long as they've known each other. I guess he knew that one day they'd have a tough fight ahead of them. Probably because of his… well, you know." He lowered his voice at the end of that sentence.

"What?" she asked.

"His 'visions'," he whispered.

Ángel, who was standing next to Jin, turned and looked back at Michael, raising an eyebrow knowingly.

Michael could have kicked himself. He mouthed, _I'm sorry._

Ángel nodded and smiled.

"Am I going to have to coach them myself?" Jin snapped at Ángel.

Ángel turned to Jin with a look of surprise on his face. "What is the problem?"

"We've been at this for half an hour and you haven't suggested anything. I'm already getting hoarse yelling at them, so would you mind helping out? Maybe make a suggestion?"

Ángel scratched his head. _"Sí. No grite."_

Quemamon laughed. Jin did not. "Oh, very funny. This is serious. Can't you come up with a better suggestion than 'Don't yell?'"

The other members of the group who didn't understand the Spanish now had a good laugh at Jin's expense.

Grumbling to himself about this, he gave new directions to Togemon. "Okay, Togemon, we're going to have to make this a little harder for Quemamon. Hit him with a _Lightning Jabbing_ attack."

"And what should I do?" Quemamon asked.

"Block it," Jin replied. "Parry if you can. No counter-attacks."

"Are you nuts?" Quemamon asked. "I can't move that fast!"

Jin crossed his arms. "You'll learn quick."

Togemon shrugged and faced Quemamon. _"Lightning Jabbing!"_

The attack was as fast as Jin had hoped. Togemon hit Quemamon with a flurry of punches and Quemamon was only able to block or parry a few of them. The rest broke through his defenses and pummeled him senseless. When it was over, he looked dizzy. As an Ultimate, he wasn't badly hurt by the attack, but it had certainly left him disoriented.

"Catch your breath and try it again," Jin commanded.

"Do not get discouraged," Ángel added. "Pandamon will not be able to beat you if he cannot hit you."

Ángel felt a tap on his leg and looked down to see Penguinmon. "Yes, what is it?"

"Look, Ángel, I want you to make sure that Amanda will get back safe and sound," he said.

"Do not worry. We will do it," he assured him.

"I'm not so sure about 'we,'" Penguinmon whispered, gesturing at Jin, who was observing the battle. "I don't think that everyone wants her back as much as I do."

Ángel was quiet. "No, that is not true. Jin will do his best. We all will. She is almost as important to Jin as she is to you."

"Oh really? Or is she important to him only because I need her to digivolve?" Penguinmon asked bitterly.

Ángel looked down. "He... he does care."

"Yeah, but not like I care for her." Penguinmon looked at him intently and Ángel was surprised to see tears coming from his eyes. "And... I know you care for her too." Ángel shuffled his feet nervously. "But regardless, I want you to know that I will _never_ forgive you if you guys don't save her. Do what you have to, but you two better come together and save her or I'll... I'll..."

"Ángel!" Jin shouted. "Are you going to help me teach Quemamon how to avoid another beating," he demanded, looking disgusted, "or are you just going to play _birdy-sitter?"_

* * *

The night brought a sudden chill, but it was warm near Pandamon's fire. Amanda would have been a bit more comfortable if it wasn't for the ropes that bound her feet and her hands behind her back. Ninjamon sat right next to her, keeping a wary eye on her. Pandamon gazed blankly into the fire and had kept silent all day. After Amanda had gotten over her initial fear upon waking up and finding herself held captive, he had spent most of the day with light exercises and sparring with Ninjamon as well as meditation. He was meditating again now, and he seemed to be in some sort of trance, mesmerized by the dancing flames of the campfire.

"Hey, these ropes kind of itch," she said.

"Quiet, you!" Ninjamon growled, raising a hand.

She flinched and tried to move away, afraid he might slap her to keep her quiet. She didn't know much about being a hostage except from what she had seen in movies, and she kept expecting her captors to start yelling at her to keep her mouth shut or they'd cut off one of her thumbs or—

She started to cry. She tried to hold it in, but the fear had gotten to her and the lump in her throat had become too big to swallow. She managed to contain a sob, but the tears came freely and she couldn't even move her hands to wipe her eyes and she was afraid that it would make them both even angrier, and so the more she wanted to stop crying the worse she felt and the harder it became to stop.

"Free her hands," Pandamon said.

"Master?" Ninjamon asked.

"Untie her hands, but leave her feet bound," Pandamon commanded.

Ninjamon complied, letting Amanda raise her sleeves to her eyes. "Thank you," she said.

"I'm not worried. You won't be able to run far with your feet bound and you don't strike me as much of a fighter. Besides, you seem smart enough to know that you stand a better chance of surviving if you do as I say."

Amanda knew there was truth in those words, but there was something about leaving her fate completely in someone else's hands that made her uncomfortable. She might have felt better if it was Penguinmon that was coming to help her. After all, she had become used to her partner acting as her sole guardian, but now it was Quemamon, who was not her partner, but the partner of Ángel and…

She still remembered his words. The look on his face. The contempt and outright anger he had for her was so obvious that she could still feel the sting of those two words he'd said: "Get lost!"

She sighed.

"Humans sure are whiny," Ninjamon observed.

"Leave her alone, Ninjamon," Pandamon said. "You have no one to blame but yourself. I simply said that if I gave the signal, you were to capture one of them. You chose her, and she shouldn't be blamed for feeling apprehensive."

"I only chose her because she was the smallest. I figured she'd be easy to carry," Ninjamon grumbled.

"Well then, my friend, you can chalk this up to misfortune. Fate, or luck, or destiny, whichever name you give it, has handed each of us bad situations."

Amanda looked to Pandamon. She could detect no emotion on his face. He looked troubled, but strangely accepting of whatever it was that troubled him.

She was afraid to disturb him, but she had to have an answer to her most pressing question. "Are you going to kill me?" she asked quietly.

He looked at her, surprised, but then turned slightly away. "Perhaps."

"What do you mean?"

"It all depends on how well your friend Quemamon fights tomorrow. If he fights well, then I doubt I will survive. If he fails, however, then it is you who will pay the price."

Amanda shivered. She was truly afraid, but the reality of the situation had not completely sunk in. This was a good thing, she supposed. Her mind was simply rejecting the idea of her being killed and it was the only thing keeping her from becoming hysterical.

"Why?"

"Because I must," Pandamon told her.

Amanda swallowed. "Please don't," she begged, her voice cracking. _"Please._ I… I don't want—"

"It doesn't matter what you want," Pandamon told her. "As I said, we all have our misfortunes. The important thing is how we deal with those misfortunes.

"Ages ago, I was simply a martial artist, a warrior who only sought to become stronger, find my limits, and achieve more and more powerful digivolutions. The Eight Gods were in need of a new member at that time and they approached me. I swore that I would only fight for them if one of them could defeat me. I beat six of them, but they returned later returned with a seventh who managed to defeat me. In my pride, I had sold myself into their services, but I was bound by my word. So, I became a thief, using my powers for common burglary. My only ambition was to find a decent opponent with whom I could test my limitations. I have avoided killing whenever possible, but… at times, the work demanded it.

"Then _he_ came. The Ancient Enemy you are hunting. He defeated all of us at once with ease. He forced us to come to Folder, to occupy different parts, and to seek you Digidestined out. He specified that if we should meet with you, we were to try and take out at least one of you. I have no desire to do this, but if I do not, then I will be the one to die. However, I have made the best of this situation. I have found a strong opponent in Quemamon. If I die tomorrow, at least I will have died as a warrior, just as I always wished to. If I defeat him, you will die, but my task will be complete and I can finally rid myself of him and the Eight Gods. After all, most of my comrades are gone anyway. The group I once served is practically over with."

"I don't understand," Amanda said.

"I do not _want_ to do this," Pandamon said. "But I have to, so I am making the best of things. If you die tomorrow, try and to it honorably. Know that you will be dying for your cause and in place of your comrades. Would you rather one of them die instead?"

"No, but..." She looked down, uncertain of how to answer.

"Show no fear, just as I will show none fighting Quemamon tomorrow."

* * *

When the sun hit the continent of Folder the following morning, a misty fog formed a thick blanket over the land. It was so thick, in fact, that the Digidestined wondered how Pandamon would find them to contact them. The situation made Penguinmon even more nervous than usual, but soon they had all their questions answered when they heard a voice call to them.

"Quemamon!" Ninjamon hollered from somewhere amid the mist. "It's time!"

"Think we should digivolve?" Scarmon asked Jin.

"Not yet," Jin said.

"Yes, you should save your strength," Ángel agreed.

Ninjamon stepped out from the fog. "Are you coming?"

"Just a minute," Jin told him. He turned to Scarmon and Muchomon. "Okay, let's review," he whispered. "How should your body be when you're fighting?"

"Stay loose, not tense," they replied in unison.

"Where should all your movement come from?"

"The hips."

"Name the three best places to hit him."

"Eyes, neck, kidneys."

"Great," he said, pleased with the results of his training. "So what's the goal today?"

"Beat Pandamon!" Scarmon yelled.

"Save Amanda!" Muchomon cried.

Jin shook his head. "Okay, whatever, good enough," he sighed. "Same thing in the end. Come on, let's go take that bear out."

The four of them set out after Ninjamon, who led them through the fog to the place where they would fight.

"Give it all you've got!" Penguinmon called after them.

_"Jin-san! Angel-kun! Ganbarinasai!"_ Mimi cheered.

Ángel looked inquisitively at Jin.

"Uh, 'Jin and Ángel! Rah-rah-rah!'" Jin translated.

* * *

It was not a long walk, but the way to get there was a complicated, weaving trail through the dense jungle and up a mountainside. Even without the morning fog, it would have been hard to find the location. Ninjamon seemed to know it by heart, however. At least that was how it seemed to Ángel. He leaned over to Jin and asked, "Do you think they chose this spot because it is hard to find? Or maybe Ninjamon is lost?"

"Oh, he's not lost," Jin said. "Look at that reed."

Ángel glanced at it. At first he didn't see it, but then it caught his eye. The reed was tied into a complex knot and had a few knife markings on it. It was then that he understood that Ninjamon had left trail markers to navigate the way back. It was clear that both Ninjamon and his master were not to be taken lightly. They were quite prepared for almost anything. He just hoped that didn't include Quemamon.

"We're here," Ninjamon said, giving them a sly grin. He dashed ahead and left them to give chase. They only needed to go about ten feet further when they found their battleground.

Pandamon had chosen a slightly recessed area on the side of the mountain. Large earthen mounds formed two side walls and a tall, rocky cliff face formed a third. The area was a rough square and each of them understood that this was to be an arena. On one wall was Ninjamon, ready to cheer for his master. Pandamon himself stood at the center of the area, his arms behind his back in a seeming parade rest.

"You're ready?" Pandamon asked.

"Ready as we will ever be," Muchomon said.

"That's an understatement," Scarmon snarled. "If you have any unbroken bones left when we're done, we'll take them home as souvenirs!"

"I admire your fighting spirit, but if you're overconfident, this will be over far too soon."

Scarmon's bared his teeth at that remark. "C'mon, let's digivolve and crush this teddy bear."

_"Scarmon digivolve to… Venomon!"_

_"Muchomon digivolve to… FlareLizamon!"_

_"Venomon—"_

_"FlareLizamon—"_

_"—DNA digivolve to… Quemamon!"_

Now digivolved and ready to fight, Quemamon got in place.

"Amazing," Pandamon said. "You Digidestined really do have a remarkable ability. Your strength is in your partners and it is far more readily available than mere training. If you can use it properly, you might defeat me."

"You don't sound too worried," Quemamon remarked, adding, "but you should be."

Pandamon's laugh was almost _mirthful_ in its innocent delight. "I'm not 'worried.' If I lose, then I will have died as I wanted: as a warrior. I'd rather die at your hands than at those of the Ancient Enemy. He has no honor and, if I win, then I will be done with him and can be on my way. All I want to do is test my limits, discover my true strength."

"What are you babbling about?" Quemamon demanded.

"You see, digimon are born with special attacks because it is our nature to fight. We are battlers, and I want to embrace that part of myself. Against an opponent that is too powerful, I cannot test myself because I am doomed to fail. Against a weak opponent, I cannot test myself because it will be too easy. But you are an equal, neither impossible to beat, nor a weakling. I intend to enjoy this fight, since it will be my first real challenge in all the time I've been with the Eight Gods."

"You talk too much," Quemamon said.

"Well, even if you don't feel the same way, you're still a warrior. But, if you need a reminder of what you're fighting for…"

He stepped aside. Behind him, her arms and legs bound with ropes, her mouth gagged, was Amanda. She squirmed and gave some muffled squeals of protest.

"Okay, we're here, now let her go," Quemamon said.

"That wasn't the deal," Pandamon said, lifting Amanda in one gigantic paw. "If you want her back, you'll have to win. If you want to win, you'll have to give it everything you've got." He put Amanda next to Ninjamon on top of one of the mounds. Quemamon and his two partners watched uneasily as Ninjamon drew a knife and held it to Amanda's throat.

"The rules are simple, Quemamon," Pandamon said, removing his red cape and placing it off too the side. "If you want her, you have to beat me. That is the only way to win her freedom. We're letting our skills fight this battle, so, as I said, no special attacks. If you use a special attack, she dies. If your partners or one of your friends comes and interferes, she dies. If you lose, she dies. If you de-digivolve, she dies."

"He's bluffing," Jin said, sneering at Pandamon. "Ángel and I will be on this mound over here. Just do what we taught you and this will be over quick."

Quemamon nodded as Jin and Ángel took their places.

"Ready?" Pandamon asked.

Quemamon nodded.

Pandamon sprang forward and punched Quemamon in the face, knocking him flat on his back. Quemamon was still for a moment, the whole world filled with stars.

"This does not look good," Ángel said.

"Get up!" Jin bellowed.

Quemamon got to his feet.

"I hope that was just a fluke," Pandamon said. "I'm just getting warmed up."

"Caught me off guard is all," Quemamon replied, laughing it off. "Now, let's see you handle _this!"_

Quemamon lunged forward, trying to punch Pandamon in the face, but Pandamon ducked it and then returned with an uppercut to Quemamon's jaw. The force knocked him a few feet into the air and, seeing his chance, Pandamon brought his fist back like pitching a baseball, then hit Quemamon as he came back down, sending him flying, skidding to a halt below Ninjamon and Amanda on their mound.

Quemamon looked up and saw Pandamon leap into the air, planning to plant his oversized foot into his ribcage. Quemamon rolled aside as Pandamon's foot hit the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust upon impact. Quemamon swung his foot around, intending to sweep Pandamon off balance, but Pandamon saw it in the nick of time and simply shifted his weight. Quemamon's sweep barely moved his extended foot and Pandamon reached down and took hold of Quemamon's leg. Before Quemamon knew what was happening, Pandamon was swinging him by his foot, spinning like a top. He released him and let him slam, headfirst, into the wall of Jin and Ángel's mound on the opposite side of the arena.

The two boys felt the earth tremble beneath them and each felt more than a little bit nervous when they saw Quemamon stagger to his feet, obviously dazed and in pain.

"You're better than this," Pandamon said. "I used that move on you before and you escaped. Yet now you did not manage to turn yourself around in midair. If you're holding back, you can stop now."

_"Quiétate!"_ Quemamon screamed. _"Tú wa saikyo ja nai! Watashi soy el mejor!"_

Jin blinked. "Are you getting this, Ángel?"

"Some of it, yes," Ángel answered. "But, the rest…"

Jin nodded. "He's mixing up the two languages. Spanish and Japanese."

"He was doing that earlier, when Pandamon… do think he has a con- concu-… a head injury?"

Jin gritted his teeth. "A concussion? He better not. Quemamon!" he called. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Quemamon answered, though he was panting, and offered a thumbs up gesture. _"Sou desu, no?"_

"I don't know what this is all about," Pandamon said, "but it makes no difference. Just fight!"

_"Anata wo matiré!"_ Quemamon yelled, running at him.

Pandamon ran at him as well, but when the two were about to meet at the center of the battlefield, Pandamon jumped up onto Quemamon's chest, propelling himself over Quemamon's shoulder and giving him a sharp kick to the upper back that sent him sprawling into the dust.

Quemamon got back up and approached Pandamon again, slowly this time. He was careful not to act too hastily, but he still watched for an opening in Pandamon's defenses. He faked a punch to the face, but then kicked at his abdomen.

The kick made contact, but Pandamon didn't let this successful attack faze him. He grabbed Quemamon's foot and made a bold move: He flipped to the side, twisting Quemamon's leg as he moved, kicking him with one foot, then the other as he passed by. The first kick knocked Quemamon off balance, while the second knocked him back. When Pandamon landed on his feet, Quemamon's leg was twisted sharply in the wrong direction as he was laid face down in the dirt.

Pandamon wasn't finished yet. He leapt forward and bent Quemamon's leg all the way to the back of his head. Quemamon gave a howl of pain as he felt his joints being warped far beyond their normal limits.

Pandamon held him in that position for a few seconds. "Tap out if you must, but remember that the girl's life ends if you do."

"Who said anything about tapping out?" Quemamon hissed through gritted teeth. Though his body was incapacitated, his tail was free and he used that one appendage for all that it was worth. He lashed it at Pandamon and the green flame of it struck Pandamon right in the eye. Pandamon released his hold on Quemamon to hold his eye.

Quemamon was limping when he got to his feet, but he seemed pleased with his attack.

"Nice eye, Pandamon," he taunted. "Want another to match?"

"A decent attack," Pandamon said, congratulating him as he rubbed his injured eye. "I don't think I'm blinded, but I could have been had it come any closer. I hope you have more moves like that in your arsenal."

"Well, if we're both rooting for you to beat me," Quemamon said, "then I won't disappoint you."

Deciding blinding Pandamon would be the best course of action, he barred the claws on his hand and slashed at Pandamon's other eye. The result was disastrous, however. He could have sworn he heard Pandamon sigh as he grabbed Quemamon's arm, nimbly whirled around to get behind him, then gave him a sharp blow to the back of the head.

Quemamon's eyes rolled back in his head, the stars flashing brightly before him, and fell forward to land limply on the ground.

"Get up!" Jin shouted. Quemamon didn't move.

"Please, you must get up!" Ángel cried.

"Yeah, Pandamon's still standing," Jin reminded him. "So get off the ground and finish him!"

Quemamon gave no indication that he heard. In fact, he made no movement at all. In fact, he looked like he was glowing in sudden, sporadic flashes.

"What is that?" Ángel asked.

"He's about to de-digivolve. I think he's trying not to."

"If he does, then it is all over," Pandamon grumbled. "This is a waste of time. I'm going to count to ten, and if he doesn't get up, then I'm calling this fight. One!… Two!…"

As Jin and Ángel both looked on, shouting for Quemamon to stand, Amanda and Ninjamon nearby, keeping track of the numbers as well, something was going on deep inside Quemamon. From within the one digimon, there were two digimon arguing.

_What was that?_ Scarmon demanded. _That slash was sluggish!_

_Sluggish? What about that kick? How long were you going to let it hang out there? If he hadn't grabbed that, we could have followed it up with something!_

_Don't blame me, bird boy!_ Scarmon growled. _It's your fault that—_

_No, stop!_ Muchomon cried. _This is stupid. We are one digimon now. We should not be fighting each other. We are supposed to be fighting like one creature. Why does it feel so different now?_

Scarmon would have shrugged if he had a physical body at the time. Being just the essence of who he was, he could only say, _Beats me._

The two minds were then silent. _No,_ Muchomon said, _this is not right. We are not together. What is our problem?_

_We're fighting our best, but it feels wrong,_ Scarmon replied. _No matter what, we're getting our butt kicked._

_It is obvious that we are not working together. We keep shifting between our languages. Between 'Español' and 'Nihongo.' Tell me… what are you fighting for?_

_Don't you know?_ Scarmon asked.

_Yes, but not because we are fused,_ Muchomon replied. _You want to beat Pandamon. That is all that is on your mind._

_What else is there?_

_What about Amanda?_ Muchomon asked. _She is the one in danger. If we fail, she will die._ Muchomon let that sink in. _Again, she will **die**. Permanently. She is your friend and she cares about you. And your partner. Even if she annoys him sometimes, don't you see that she really does like Jin? And so do you. Is that really so bad? Do you really not care if she dies?_

Scarmon heaved a mental sigh. _Of course I care. But what does that have to do with anything?_

_Stop thinking about Pandamon,_ Muchomon said. _We aren't doing this to beat him; we are doing this for her._

Scarmon chuckled. _You're a real softie, you know. But you're also right. Okay, we'll save her and Pandamon can just be an obstacle. I'm fine with that._

Ángel sensed that there was some confusion going on within Quemamon, but, as Pandamon neared the number ten, he suddenly sensed a renewed harmony, as if something had just _clicked_ in Quemamon's mind.

"Nine!…" Pandamon counted. Ninjamon grasped the blade tighter and Amanda shut her eyes, tensing up.

Quemamon suddenly raised himself up and rolled forward, head over heels, landing on his feet and standing up. It was obvious that his leg still hurt, but he seemed to be able to take the pain better now.

"Well, I'm glad to see you still have some fight left in you," Pandamon said. "You look like you're resolved to fight a little harder now."

Quemamon wasn't having any more banter with Pandamon. He just beckoned him confidently with one finger.

"As you wish!" Pandamon laughed, punching at him again. This time, Quemamon grabbed Pandamon's fist with his left hand, reeled back, controlling his movements, raised one foot, then, in one quick move, raised Pandamon's fist above his head, stomped on his foot to hold him in place, and punched him in the stomach as hard as he could.

Pandamon's eyes bulged and he staggered back, coughing harshly. The blow had forced the air from his lungs and he clutched his abdomen, still feeling the effect deep in his gut.

"See? I have learned some new moves," Quemamon said.

"Ah, but I still have some you haven't seen," Pandamon reminded him. He backed up this point by leaping forward and bringing his knee into Quemamon's midsection. As Quemamon crumpled over, Pandamon raised his arm, then brought his elbow down onto the back of his skull, sending him to the ground again.

"He's down," Jin growled. _"Again."_

Ángel was barely listening. He was focused on Quemamon's mind, not the action that was unfolding before them. Quemamon seemed more_ complete_ now, but he couldn't help but feel that something else was missing. The only thing that brought him out of these thoughts was the sudden cry of, "Come on, Quemamon!"

Everyone looked to the origin of the sound. On the other mound, next to Ninjamon, Amanda had managed to get her gag off and now she was cheering for them.

"Hey, how'd you get that off?" Ninjamon demanded.

"The knot came loose," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him. "And, like I was saying: You can do it, Quemamon! Kick his checkered patoot!"

"What's a patoot?" Ninjamon inquired.

"Ninjamon, you fool!" Pandamon shouted. "Keep her quiet, she is ruining this fight! And don't hurt her, at least until they've lost!"

"Yeah, and keep out of this, will you?" Jin shouted to Amanda.

"I'll cheer all I want," Amanda shot back. "I already _am_ in this, in case you haven't noticed, you jerk!"

"That's enough out of you!" Ninjamon growled, trying to force the gag back on her. Amanda wasn't having any of it and continued struggling.

Ángel watched all this unfold and then turned to Jin, who sat next to him. He understood what was going on now. Quemamon was now focused, _both_ of his halves were focused, on saving Amanda. He too was concerned about her safety, but, when he turned to Jin and searched his thoughts, there was only the fight. It was a cold, sullen lump of thought that only cared about winning and losing when it came to the battle.

"It is you," Ángel said.

"What?" Jin asked. "What is me? Why don't you focus on the fight here—"

"No," Ángel said firmly. "That is our problem. The four of us, Scarmon, Muchomon, you, and myself are not in harmony. When Quemamon fought Pandamon, we all wanted to see him defeated. We were winning until you yelled at Amanda. You were not with us and Pandamon won. Now, you are still not with us. You are fighting for the wrong reason."

"Who cares about that touchy-feely crap? As long as we win—"

"But we _won't_ win unless you admit that this isn't about who is the strongest. Your pride is in this, and you are not giving your strength to Quemamon when he needs it most. The problem is that we care, and _you do not."_

"Care? About what, that little—"

"I said shut up!" Ninjamon yelled. Everyone turned when they heard the sound. It was a sharp crack, like a whip, and, though they all missed the actual action, they saw the red mark on Amanda's face and the way her head was turned from Ninjamon. He had slapped her.

Quemamon started up, leaping at Ninjamon. "Hey, you can't—"

"Not so fast!" Pandamon shouted, grabbing onto him, locking him in a tight bear hug, squeezing the air out of him.

Jin stared on in disbelief. Ángel did as well, clenching his fists in rage.

"And you hate her."

"H-huh?" Jin asked, looking at Ángel.

"You said that you hated her. So now she is about to be killed and Ninjamon just slapped her, but you do not care about that. You would only care that Quemamon lost. You do not think she is that important, do you? Because you hate her."

"No!" Jin said. "I… I never said that…"

"Yes you did!" Ángel said, his eyes angry. "I heard it, and so did our digimon. She is going to die, and you will not miss her."

_"No!"_ Jin shouted, catching Amanda's eye, quieting her for a second. Jin saw her too, saw the fear in her tear-filled eyes, and felt every bit of his guilt, knowing that he was the one holding them back.

"Look, she... she can be pretty annoying," Jin said, "but I don't want her to die! I'd rather die than see an innocent girl like her get hurt!"

He'd no sooner finished that sentence than Quemamon started to glow. It wasn't like he was digivolving, or de-digivolving, but it was like some kind of odd _inner light._

_That light,_ Pandamon said to himself. _He had that yesterday, when he was fighting well. How—_

Quemamon strained against Pandamon's hold, his muscles bulging as he pried himself free of the seemingly unbreakable bear hug.

"Impossible!" Ninjamon cried. "He can't be that strong!"

Quemamon didn't even look behind him, but he managed to whirl around and delivered a backfist to Pandamon's jaw, then pursued him and gave him three more punches to the face, then kicked straight up, hitting him in the chin and knocking him onto his back heels. He crouched down and rammed his shoulder into him, running him the length of the battlefield and smashing him into the cliff side.

"So… that is… the power you had… within you…" Pandamon panted, his back against the cliff wall. "Do me the honor… show me what you have and don't hold back!"

Quemamon obliged and hit him with a veritable storm of punches. Pandamon tried his best to block them all, but Quemamon seemed to be going faster and faster, almost the rapidity of Togemon's Lightning Jabbing attack. The punches pounded Pandamon into the cliff side, breaking bone and cracking the rock behind him. When it was over, Quemamon leaped back and admired his handiwork.

"Is that it?" Pandamon asked, though his body was battered and both his eyes were nearly swollen shut.

"Almost," Quemamon said, pointing up.

Everyone looked and saw that Quemamon's punches had shattered the rocky cliff side, and deep cracks had formed in its face.

Quemamon picked up a nearby rock from the ground. "Now it's over," he said, and flung the rock at the cliff.

The force of the rock caused the broken cliff side to give under its own weight and caused a landslide. The mass of rocks came down and, though Pandamon tried to escape, the rocks overcame him and soon he was buried deep under a mass of boulders, slabs, and assorted rubble.

"Is… is he gone?" Ángel asked as the dust cleared.

"No way anything could have survived that," Jin said. "Not even a digimon as skilled as Pandamon could handle that much weight."

Ninjamon was still for a moment. Then, without a word, he untied Amanda's ropes and bowed politely to her. "My master told me to release you if they won," he told her. "I'll respect his command. You're free to go."

Amanda rubbed her wrists as she stood. "Well," she said, turning to the others, "I guess we should be heading back."

"I agree," Ángel said.

"Yeah," Jin grumbled. "If we can find our way back."

* * *

They did manage to find their way back, of course, though it took them most of the afternoon and Jin and Ángel both had to carry their tired partners on their backs, as they were each too exhausted from the fight to get far on their own. They received a hero's welcome once they returned, however.

"They're back!" Mimi cried.

"Amanda!" Penguinmon exclaimed, running to her.

Amanda laughed as she scooped up her partner and reassured him that she was unhurt, just a bit shaken by the experience.

"Well, it looks like you four managed to beat him," Michael remarked.

"It was a... team effort," Ángel said.

Amanda set down Penguinmon and put each her arms around Jin and Ángel. "Well, thanks a lot you guys. Not to wear out a tired cliché, but," she then planted a kiss on each of their cheeks, "my heroes!"

Ángel gasped in surprise (but didn't look at all unhappy). Jin, however, growled and gave her a sharp look. She grinned sheepishly at him, much as she had the day before, when he'd woken up to her next to him, wrapped in her sleeping bag like a caterpillar.

"You're a—" he began, then stopped. "You're—" he tried again. Then, surprisingly, he sighed and gave a tiny smirk. "You're welcome." He playfully ruffled her hair. "Good to have you back, ya brat."

Michael looked down to Betamon. "You know, I almost feel left out in all this," he said.

"Aw, don't feel left out," Mimi said, overhearing. "In fact, since you _did_ save me yesterday…"

Mimi then surprised everyone, especially Michael, by giving him a small peck on the cheek as well. "There you go, hero!" she laughed and went to congratulate Jin and the others.

Michael simply stood there, looking like he was about to melt and doing a bad job of hiding it.

"Pull yourself together, Michael," Betamon whispered.

"Yeah," Penguinmon added. "Keep this up and we'll have to cart you out of here in a bucket."

* * *

Ninjamon lit a candle and bowed respectfully before the rock pile. "I have to keep moving, master," he said. "You died a warrior's death, just as you wished, and that is what I will tell the people of Folder. May you be reborn, and stronger than before." Having said that, he gathered up the last of his things and left.

A few minutes after he had gone, the pile of rocks began to move. Soon, a furry paw emerged from it and began to brush debris from it, eventually uncovering an arm and, soon, Pandamon crawled out from under the pile.

"I got off lucky," Pandamon said to himself. "I could have been crushed if those rocks had fallen any other way. Oh well, they won fairly. If the Ancient Enemy has a problem, then he can kill me himself. I won't do his dirty work any longer."

He stared off into the woods, making sure that Ninjamon was not around. "Ninjamon… I'm sorry I cannot be your master anymore, but you must tell everyone that I was deleted. As far as the world is concerned, I am dead. That way, my business with the Eight Gods and the Dark One is finished and I may start anew."

He took a deep breath and then started walking. "I've got a long journey ahead of me, and I don't know where it will take me." As he entered the jungle, a thought entered his mind and he smiled. "But the same is true for those battlers, those Digidestined. I hope they will give the Ancient Enemy the same hard battle as they gave me."

**To be continued…**

_(Next time: A beautiful little town has a dark side. As the team finds itself involved in a local dispute, Jin's past comes back to haunt him and the team's bonds are put to the test...)_

_P.S. A truly honorable warrior leaves a **review**, reader-san! Hi-keeba!  
_


	16. Cult of the Kill, Part I

**Chapter Fifteen:**

**Cult of the Kill, Part I**

* * *

_Here are the steps  
__In the Iron Law of History_  
That welds Order and Sacrifice:  
Order leads to Guilt  
(for who can keep commandments!)  
Guilt needs Redemption  
(for who would not be cleansed!)  
Redemption needs Redeemer  
(which is to say, a Victim!).

_Order  
Through Guilt  
To Victimage  
(hence: Cult of the Kill)…_

**_-from Kenneth Burke's _On Theology and Logology**

* * *

He felt a chill down his back and was overcome by a mixture of horrendous sickness and exquisite delight. The master had come. Yes, the master had come to him and blessed him with his presence.

"Master," he said.

"Last one," Delgado said, as his eyes glowed red in the blackness of night. "You are the last. All the other Eight Gods have been defeated. Pandamon just earlier today."

"They must be strong," he said.

"Using one digimon, no less."

"I'm not afraid."

"I didn't think you would be," Delgado chuckled. "Of all the Eight Gods, you're the only one who's earned an attitude. You're easily the best of the best."

"I threw in with the Eight Gods because they were the strongest I'd known. Now, you're the strongest." He got down on one knee and bowed his head. "My life for you."

"It might come to that. Your friends are all gone."

"Friends? Hardly. And they're gone because they failed the test."

"So, you know that this is all a test?"

"Of course. You never intended the weak ones to survive the Digidestined. You let them die so you could see if any of us were worthy. Now, I will prove that I'm the best. The strongest."

Delgado laughed hollowly. "I know what you're thinking. You think the test is for you. But the test is for the Digidestined."

"For them?" He thought this over. "Well, it doesn't matter. They won't pass the test. I swore myself to you, and I will follow you wherever you go. You're the one true ruler of the Digital World."

Delgado rubbed his chin. "All right, pal, I'll make this a double test. If you defeat the Digidestined, then you're in the inner circle. I'll take you to my headquarters and make you a general in my army."

He beamed with pride. "Yes, master! I won't let you down! I will be known as the one to have destroyed the Digidestined, and to have helped to usher in the rightful ruler of the Digital World! I will prove myself worthy of legend in the new era!"

"Uh-huh," Delgado yawned, "yeah, that's great. But listen, my overzealous underling, I've got some special tasks I want you to fulfill. Those kids are coming upon a place that's very close to my heart. Listen carefully, because I want this done a certain way…"

* * *

"I'm hot and tired!" Amanda complained.

"Yeah, I know," Jin said. "We all are."

"You know, back when I first got to the Digital World," Mimi said, "I used to complain about all the walking and how hot it was, but I think I've gotten used to it!"

Michael smiled at her weakly. "That's great, Mimi, but nobody would blame you if you complained. It really is pretty hot today."

"Oh." Her expression soured. "In that case: I hot and tired too! And I'm sweating like crazy and my clothes are sticking to me and it's really gross and the humidity is making my hair all frizzy and I haven't had a decent bath in _two whole days!"_

Ángel looked back at her and tried to give her an encouraging smile even as he mopped his brow with a red bandana. Then, thinking quick, he reached into the pack he was carrying and removed a blue bandana from it and handed it to her. "Here, this will help a little bit."

"Hey!" Amanda cried. "I complained first, why don't I—"

Ángel was ready and handed Amanda a purple bandana before she could finish.

Jin smiled. The morale of the whole group had been brought up with yesterday's news of a means to make their digimon more powerful. Learning that having a similar mindset, that having _harmony_ could make the digimon stronger and faster was the best news they could have gotten. It might mean that the last of the Eight Gods would be easily defeated if they could pool their efforts the same way. He supposed that the newfound peace among them was Ángel's doing as well. Even when things had been rough, he'd managed to inspire them all to do their best. Now, the girls were complaining and Ángel had been there to stop that. This was an odd situation for Jin; he'd never had a best buddy quite like Ángel before.

Scarmon was his best friend, of course, but he was a digimon who didn't understand a lot of what it meant to be human. Mimi was his other best friend, but, well… she was a girl, and he liked having a guy he could goof around with and, if necessary, punch in the face. Guys could smack each other around and not have any hard feelings, but the thought of smacking Mimi upside the head or putting her in a headlock sounded comical at best and cruel at worst.

What they really needed now was some shade, and maybe a drink of water. They'd been hiking all morning, continuing down the mountain, leaving the jungle and finding themselves in a wooded area. It looked like the forests found on the West Coast of the United States, but the heat was no less than it had been in the jungle. That was the funny thing about the Digital World, though: totally different landscapes and climates could be right next to each other. Most of them had been to File Island before, for example, and remembered that it had jungle, glacial ice, barren terrain, and mountains all in the space of something no bigger than Rhode Island, if that. Folder wasn't as unpredictable, but it was still pretty weird about that kind of thing.

Jin felt particularly bad for some of the digimon. The heat and all the hiking had been too much for Scarmon, Betamon, and Penguinmon, all of whom were being carried by their respective partners.

"It's times like this I wish I could sweat," Scarmon grumbled.

"Just be glad your skin doesn't dry up if you don't get enough water," Betamon reminded him.

"Why couldn't the Eight Gods have gone some place colder?" Penguinmon sighed. He was faring better than the other two, but he had to fluff out his feather coat in order to keep cool. The same feathers that could have shielded him from intense cold were now stifling in the hot weather.

"Don't worry, you guys," Palmon said. "We're on a beaten path, so it has to go somewhere. Maybe there'll be water there."

Palmon was right about the path going somewhere. After another ten minutes, they arrived at a sign that read, "Partition: Population 150." The town itself seemed rather quaint. It had several small buildings, nice little shops, peaceful houses painted blue, yellow, and pink. Michael thought it looked a bit like the shops he'd seen in Disneyworld, with the big, colorful signs that said things like "Cinderella's Shoe Store," or "Minnie's Ice Cream Shop," or things like that. He'd been to a few Digital World villages in his time, but this one was one of the nicest.

"Nice place, huh?" he remarked.

"Mm," Jin said noncommittally.

"What is it? You don't think it's nice?"

"Cute, yes, but 'nice?' Take a look around," Jin muttered.

Michael did and he caught on to what Jin was saying. All the digimon in town were looking at them. Not staring, but they were all raising their eyes mistrustfully, then looking away when he met their eyes. It was eerie in a way and he wondered what it meant.

"Maybe they've never seen humans before," Mimi said, shrinking from those cold, unfamiliar gazes.

"Who cares?" Scarmon said. "Look what's up ahead!"

They all looked. Just up the main road was a small park, complete with shady trees, park benches, and a very inviting water fountain.

"I get first dibs!" Scarmon shouted, running for the fountain, the others right behind him.

There were already several other digimon from the village when the group came upon the scene and many of them hurried away when they saw them coming. Some had a look of absolute horror as Scarmon climbed up the water fountain and took a long drink from it. The others waited their turn and then they all sat down on the nearest available park bench. Each of them had plenty of shade and they all relaxed, glad to finally be out of the heat.

Scarmon curled up and started to doze on his own bench that he shared with Betamon. "Well, my cold-blooded comrade," Scarmon muttered, "it doesn't get any better than this."

"You said it," Betamon agreed with a yawn.

_"Ahem!"_ a voice grunted.

Scarmon lifted his head and saw a strange trio standing next to the bench, each one looking very displeased.

"Yeah?"

They all stood silent.

"Well, whaddya want?" Scarmon demanded.

They looked even more displeased now, seemingly incensed by his phrasing of both questions.

The first digimon looked like a dog with white fur and droopy, maroon-colored ears and a flowing maroon tail wearing a blue police officer's cap. The second was a metallic digimon with a square head, red eyes, and two point protrusions coming from its head like the crown of a beetle, and two vice-like hands from which electricity sparked periodically. It too wore an officer's cap. The last one was dressed as a cowboy, but his body was that of a gigantic revolver and he also carried a revolver in each hand as well. His yellow eyes glared out from beneath his brown ten-gallon hat which was adorned with a metal badge that said "Police" on it.

"Let's see," Amanda said, working with her pocket analyzer. "These three are: Labramon," she said of the dog digimon, "…Kokuwamon," she said of the second, "…and Deputymon," she said, finishing the list.

"I wonder what they want," Mimi whispered to Palmon.

The three didn't waste any more time. Labramon barred her teeth and shouted, "Get off!"

Scarmon cocked his head to one side. "Come again?"

"You are to remove yourself from that bench immediately," Kokuwamon explained.

"Yep," Deputymon said. "It's the law 'round here. You'll need to go to a designated area if you want to take a breather."

"That's what I was saying!" Labramon added. "Now get up _right now!"_

Scarmon snorted and gave her a sneer. "Get lost," he said and put his head back down.

"Boy, I wouldn't be getting ahead of myself if I was your type," Deputymon admonished.

"It's too late for warnings!" Labramon said, reaching inside her fur coat and removing a notepad and a pencil. "I'm writing you a ticket for your flagrant violation of a restricted sitting zone area!" She tore off the ticket and shoved it in Scarmon's face, presenting it triumphantly. "That'll be 50 digi-dollars when you're found guilty, 75 more if you want supervised relaxation for three months or a general 'type-rights' class to be taken at some time after this citation. You get all that, or do I need somebody to explain it to you?"

Scarmon raised his head again and looked at the ticket blankly.

"Well, take it!"

Scarmon lunged forward and chomped down on the ticket and a large portion of Labramon's paw. Labramon yelped in pain and ran for safety behind Kokuwamon when Scarmon let her free.

"Okay, that's it!" Scarmon growled. "I'm hot and I'm tired and I'm not moving unless one of you three zeroes gives me a reason."

"Heh. I guess you can't read the signs," Deputymon chuckled. "Figures."

"Signs?" Scarmon looked, as did the others. It was then that they noticed the small bronze signs on the fountain and each of their benches. Each one read "Vaccine/Data."

"What does that mean?" Scarmon asked.

"It means that these facilities aren't for you, _Virus!"_ Kokuwamon shouted.

Michael leaned over to Jin. "Maybe you should tell Scarmon not to make trouble," he whispered.

Jin shook his head gravely. "That's not fair. If one of us gets to sit here, then we all should."

"I think so too, but maybe he should—"

"And the same thing for the toad, too!" Labramon added.

Now Betamon looked surprised. "Who? Me?"

"That's right, Virus, hop on down from there!" Deputymon commanded.

Now Michael looked as grave as Jin. "Wait a minute!" he said, standing up. "What are you talking about?"

"Stay out of this," Labramon snapped. "You don't look like a Virus to me, so keep your affairs to your own kind! These two Viruses, however, are in for some serious hard time!"

Michael's eyes went wide. _Betamon's a Virus-type digimon?_ he wondered. _I never even thought about it._

"Someone needs to put you to sleep, doggy!" Scarmon growled. "Come on, Betamon!"

"We might as well give them a hand," Jin said to Michael, holding up his digivice. "Three against two isn't fair otherwise."

Michael agreed and held up his digivice.

"Wait!" Mimi cried. Everyone looked at her in confusion. "Jin, Michael, look!"

They did and saw that many of the citizens of the town had shown up, including a very tall, very menacing Monzaemon. If they fought now, it would mean that they would get involved and a lot of them might get hurt by Venomon and Seadramon, and it might cause major destruction within the town if everyone digivolved. Then again, they weren't about to stand by and let Scarmon and Betamon be defeated either.

"I don't want to fight," Kokuwamon said. "But if you do not submit, we will force submission from you!"

"That won't be necessary," said a new voice. They all looked to see a Tapirmon floating towards them, his cloud-like lower body letting him glide forward easily.

"Mayor Tapirmon," Labramon barked. "We were just about to arrest these violators!"

"I'm glad you're doing your duty, officers," Tapirmon said, "but this is a complicated situation. Obviously these digimon are accompanied by Digidestined."

The three officers seemed to finally notice the first time the five children nearby were carrying digivices.

"Well, uh... do you think that's an excuse for breaking the law?" Labramon asked the mayor. "Your Honor," she added hastily.

"No, but I won't have this turning into a street fight, either, especially not when Digidestined are involved." Tapirmon turned to the Digidestined. "I don't know what you're doing here, but I suggest we solve this quickly. Nobody wants this to become unpleasant if we can solve things peacefully, of course. If you give up now, we could simply hold a nice, fair trial and get this matter settled in no time."

The Digidestined looked to each other. "It's up to you guys," Jin said to Scarmon and Betamon.

"A trial?" Scarmon asked. "Does that involve me bashing their heads?"

"Shh!" Betamon hissed. "No, that means they accuse us and we try and tell them why we aren't guilty."

"And if we win, _then_ we get to hurt them, right?"

"No violence!" Betamon shouted. "Besides, there's a lot of digimon in this town, and I don't think we should fight them all if we don't have to. Let's just get this over with."

"Fine," Scarmon agreed, sulking.

* * *

The trial was to be held in the town courthouse. It looked as though a good portion of the town had showed up to see the trial and many of them had crammed themselves into the seats, despite the fact that it was even hotter inside the courthouse than it was outside. When Scarmon, Betamon, and their partners walked down the main aisle to their table at the left side of the courtroom, the citizens stared at them, giving them dirty looks. Someone actually threw a crumpled ball of paper at them, hitting Jin in the head. Jin whirled around and looked to see who threw the ball, but all he saw was a half-dozen digimon grinning at him, daring him to guess which one had thrown it. He let the matter drop and continued to the front.

"Good luck, you guys!" Mimi whispered, sitting behind them in the front row with Ángel, Amanda, and the other three digimon.

Up the aisle came a Cockatrimon carrying a briefcase. He took a seat at the table on the other side of the courtroom and looked at the defendants. "You boys had best plead guilty," he told them. "Knowing your place is the best way to handle this."

"You must be the prosecution," Michael said.

"Well at least one of you has a clue about how this works," Cockatrimon chuckled.

"Hey, when we win, I get the drumstick!" Scarmon cried.

"There is _no_ violence in a trial, Scarmon!" Betamon yelled.

"All right, order in the court!" a new voice hollered. Everyone focused their attention on the front of the courtroom where a Floramon was addressing the court. "All rise, the honorable Judge Tapirmon presiding!"

Everyone stood and the Digidesined gawked when they saw Tapirmon, the _same_ Tapirmon that they'd seen in the park enter wearing a judge's robe and take a seat at the bench.

"Court is now in session!" Tapirmon said, banging his gavel. "You may be seated."

"Your Honor, the case is the Digimon of Partition vs. Scarmon, Betamon, Jin Takamura and Michael Washington."

"What?" Jin and Michael shouted.

"Hey, we weren't even charged with anything!" Michael shouted.

"Order!" Tapirmon bellowed. "Fine, if you want it formalized…" He reached into his robe and removed a police officer's badge. "As the Sheriff of Partition, I hereby place you under arrest for the violation of Public Type-Zoning Code #3."

"Which is?" Jin demanded.

"It clearly states that 'No Virus digimon shall make use of facilities reserved exclusively for Data and Vaccine type digimon, but only absolutely public facilities or those separate and equal facilities reserved for Virus types.' You two humans are the partners of those two Virus digimon, therefore, I must assume that you are Virus humans."

_"What?"_ all ten of them shouted.

"That's ridiculous!" Jin shouted. "Almost as ridiculous as you being the mayor, the judge, and the sheriff all at—"

"Order, order!" Tapirmon shouted, banging his gavel amid a flurry of _boos_ that were aimed at Jin by the occupants of the courtroom. "Keep your slanderous comments to yourself, boy, or I'll find you in contempt."

Jin grumbled but kept quiet for the time being.

"In the interest of getting this done in time for lunch, I think we'll forgo the opening arguments and proceed right to the thick of things. Now, will the prosecution call their first witness?" Tapirmon asked Cockatrimon.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Michael cried. "We don't have an attorney! Aren't you supposed to let us have a court-appointed one?"

Everyone in the courtroom froze. Then they all burst out in uproarious laughter.

"I'm getting a very bad feeling about this," Michael sighed.

"Hoo boy, that was rich. Well, heh heh, will the prosecution please call the first witness?" Tapirmon snickered.

"Your Honor, the prosecution calls Officer Labramon to the stand," Cockatrimon said.

Labramon got up from her seat in the courthouse and went up the main isle to take a seat at the stand.

The Floramon bailiff held a small book in front of Labramon upon which she placed her paw.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you Goddramon?"

"I do," Labramon replied.

"You may proceed," Tapirmon told Cockatrimon.

"Now, officer, would you please tell the courtroom what happened?"

Labramon nodded. "Officers Deputymon, Kokuwamon, and I were at the station house when we got several calls that a large group of strangers had entered the town and some of them looked to be Virus digimon. We thought we'd see if it was anything to be concerned about so we went to the park to check up on them."

"And what did you find?"

"We found that among the digimon there were the two Virus types, Scarmon and Betamon, both of whom had used a drinking fountain and a park bench which were zoned exclusively for Data and Vaccine types, the signs indicating this clearly marked."

Scarmon jumped up on the table. "Clearly marked my scaly—"

"Scarmon, keep quiet!" Jin told him, yanking him by the tail back into his seat.

"Anything further?" Cockatrimon asked.

"Yes," Labramon said. "Upon asking them to leave and notifying them of their violation, they made threats and Scarmon bit my hand. Also, their humans, whom have also established to be Virus types—"

Now Michael had to restrain Jin from standing up and saying something.

"—tried to interfere and also made threats towards myself and the other two officers."

"And all this can be correlated by those officers?"

"And by His Honor, the Mayor. Right?"

"Sure thing," Tapirmon said.

"We're screwed, Mike," Jin whispered to Michael. "We should just digivolve and fight our way out."

"Just wait a minute, we agreed to have a trial, maybe we can still get out of this town quietly without anyone getting hurt."

He thought this over. "Okay, you're right. But if they throw the book at us, I'm throwing it right back."

"Nothing further," Cockatrimon said as he finished his questioning. He looked at Jin and company. "Your witness."

"All right, she's mine!" Scarmon cried ferociously, leaping out of his chair at Labramon, forcing the other three to once again restrain him. All the while the courtroom booed and Tapirmon banged his gavel as loudly as he could. "Order! I warned you about this! Officers, take that uppity Virus away!"

It looked like things were about to get ugly when someone at the back of the court cried "Wait, wait! I wish to represent the Defense!"

Everyone quieted and turned to face the speaker. This digimon looked like a lizard with purple skin and it was wearing the white and violet striped pelt of some animal and a yellow horn protruded from its forehead. It also wore a pair of rose-colored shades with rectangular lenses and a small briefcase. It looked quite familiar, so much so that Mimi actually cried, "Gabumon!"

"No, no, it's Psychemon, actually," she said, her voice high and distinctly feminine. "So, like I was saying, I wish to represent the defense."

"Oh, what a surprise," Tapirmon said, an exasperated look on his face. "Psychemon wants to represent some Virus defendants. Well, it's up to the defendants, even though you've only won one case out of the last twelve you've argued."

All of them looked rather skeptically at Psychemon.

"Listen, man," she whispered to them. "That's not my fault. This town is totally against Virus types. I think we all know that 'His Honor' isn't exactly impartial, right?"

They nodded.

"Okay then. So, like, I can get you guys off, but you've got to tell me who you all are and what happened, and you've got to _trust me_ and not start yelling things out if it gets rough, all right?"

All ten of them got in a huddle and told her the story, then told them who they were.

"Really?" she asked, impressed with something they told her. "Okay, I can do this. That is, if you want me as your lawyer."

"It might be best," Michael said. "She seems to know the law around here better than we do."

"I'm still thinking we could bust our way out of here," Jin said. "But Michael's convinced me to play nice. Okay, you're hired. But don't screw this up, hippie."

"Sure thing, man," Psychemon said. "What's a hippie?"

"Never mind," Scarmon told her. "Just get to lawyering!"

Psychemon shrugged. "Okay, we're ready Your Honor," told Tapirmon.

"About time. And you will be arguing for the defendants?"

"Yes, they've allowed me to represent them."

"Then, do you wish to cross-examine the witness?" he asked, indicating Labramon.

"Actually, we, like, move for dismissal."

An outraged murmur went through the courtroom.

"Dismissal? On what grounds?" Tapirmon cried.

"On three grounds," Psychemon said. "First, all of my clients are outsiders. They come from desegregated areas and weren't looking for the signs. It would be unfair to assume that they would have checked for the Type Zoning signs that residents of Partition town see everyday."

"Your Honor," Cockatrimon interjected, "that's a perfectly legitimate excuse except that nowhere in the police report, including the Sheriff's (that is, your own), does it mention that the defendants protested that they didn't see the signs."

"My clients tell me that they made that clear!" Psychemon protested.

"It's not in the reports," Tapirmon said, shrugging. "Overruled," he said with a smug smile.

"Okay, then my second reason is that humans are not classifiable by type. According to the Guardian Statement issued as of Eighth Month, Year 1 A.A.—"

"When?" Michael whispered to Jin.

"Digital World calendar. That means the 8th month of the first year After Apocalymon was defeated and the Digital World was reborn. Since the world was reborn in August, that's their first month and their New Year's. In other words, about eight months after that. April-ish."

Meanwhile, Psychemon was removing a document from her briefcase, continuing on. "—the few remaining Bitmen Guardians of the Digital World issued the proclamation that humans were very much like Bitmen, except that they are not originally data-based life-forms and, as such, 'are without Attribute or Level, thus negating any categorization exclusively for Digimon.'"

The crowd in the courthouse all seemed somewhat swayed by this argument. Tapirmon looked impressed as well. "Very well, the charges against the humans Jin Takamura and Michael Washington are hereby dismissed."

"Yay!" Mimi cheered. Jin and Michael shared a mutual smile.

_"However,_ you still have two more clients who are clearly Virus types and they are still accountable to the law."

"I then bring up my third and final ground for dismissal," Psychemon continued. "Namely the Digidestined Immunity Act passed at the Folder Judicial Conference held last year."

"Ah, yes, I was there for that," Tapirmon said, considering, trying to remember the exact nature of the law.

"As my clients are not aware, but the rest of the court will recall, the Folder Judicial Conference is the annual meeting of all the leaders of all the major communities of the Continent of Folder, including Sky City, the Gehenna Zone, and Console Port. There, the concerns of the communities are suggested and Federal laws are suggested and passed. The last conference recognized the re-emergence of the Digidestined and that they would be needed to stop threats to the Digital World. Since such threats often required quick action, unnecessary detainment of Digidestined was made illegal while they were on a mission, barring offenses of a Class B or higher offense."

Everyone in the courtroom looked confused.

"So, like, unless they're doing something _really_ bad, that's a Class B or higher, and they're trying to stop someone like the Dark Masters or something, it's against Federal Law to stop them and put them in jail."

"And these Digidestined are on a peacekeeping mission?"

"Well, we've all heard reports of the Eight Gods gang attacking Folder and that the Digidestined were stopping them," Psychemon said. "These are those Digidestined."

"Are you positive?" Labramon snapped from the witness stand.

"Oh, yeah," Psychemon said, grinning as she adjusted her shades. "And one of them is none other than _the_ Mimi Tachikawa!"

The courtroom was in disbelief then, but Mimi rose to her feet and waved at everyone, trying her best to smile, Palmon at her side. Amid all the murmuring, one could make out such phrases as "Apocalymon," and "original Digidestined," and "Crest of Sincerity." The entire mood of the crowd seemed brightened by her presence and it was obvious that they all considered her a heroine, if not a living legend. The whole mood of the room seemed to have shifted and the oppressive and hostile atmosphere became light, even welcoming.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Jin asked, leaning over to Michael. "All this fuss over Mimi?"

Michael just smiled. "Not at all," he replied.

"And would Miss Tachikawa please tell us all what she and her companions, _including_ the two remaining defendants, are doing here in the Digital World?"

"Well, first we started fighting all the Eight Gods, but once we've stopped them all, we're going to do our best to fight the Ancient Enemy!" she told everyone cheerfully.

The courthouse settled into a grave hush.

"What?" Mimi asked confusedly. "What did I say?"

"Your Honor, I think that's a worthy goal. If they are convicted and jailed, we'll clearly be violating Federal Law."

Tapirmon wiped some sweat from his brow. "Agreed," he said. "Very well. All the charges are dismissed!"

"Did we win?" Scarmon asked.

"Yes!" Betamon cheered.

All ten of them rose to their feet and cheered.

_"However,"_ Tapirmon added, banging his gavel. "We cannot let you simply violate our laws now that you are aware of them. If you're planning to stay, you Virus digimon will need to use the facilities zoned for your type."

"And where are they?" Betamon asked.

"I'll have someone escort you there," Tapirmon said. "Labramon will go with you, as well as…" he then got a fiendish look in his eyes, "…Monzaemon."

The huge Monzaemon at the back of the courthouse was leaning against the wall when his name was called. "Your Honor?" he asked.

"Please escort them to a properly zoned area. Take them to the Norton District."

Monzaemon nodded and beckoned them all to come with him. They followed them out of the courthouse, but as Jin was about to exit, he noticed someone among the townsfolk. This didn't look like a digimon, but a human with a hooded cloak, and he had the definite sensation that this person was watching _him_ most intently.

* * *

"What is this?" Betamon asked.

The group of them, escorted by Labramon and Monzaemon, had arrived at the edge of town. They stood at the top of what looked like a large hill with a steep incline going downward into the forest. It looked as though the ground had been eroded badly and it was slick with mud. Next to this incline was a large set of earthen stairs. Nowhere were any facilities that looked like a good place to rest.

"This is where the main part of town ends and the Norton District begins," Labramon told them.

"Of course we don't call it by that name very often," Monzaemon grumbled, scooping up Scarmon and Betamon in one paw suddenly.

"Hey, let them go!" Michael shouted.

"We call it the Virus Ghetto," Monzaemon finished, and bowled the two Virus digimon down the incline where they slid downward and out of sight.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jin shouted.

"I don't care if you're all Digidestined," Monzaemon said. "We still don't care for uppity Virus-types. Or," he added, suddenly lifting his massive foot, "their humans." He swung his foot forward and booted Michael and Jin onto the incline where they slid downward, Jin yelling all the way about what he would do next time he saw Monzaemon.

"Monzaemon, you're a real drag, you know that?" Psychemon told him.

"Tell it to someone who cares, Virus lover!" Labramon said, headbutting her down the incline as well.

The others looked on in shock.

"As for the rest of you," Labramon said, "you can take the stairs unless you'd rather take the same shortcut as your friends."

Mimi stepped forward. "I can't believe you!" she exclaimed. "Why are you being so mean to people who are only trying to help?"

Amanda looked fearfully at the huge Monzaemon who took a step towards them. Mimi, however, didn't even flinch.

"We don't really need any help from Virus types, miss," Monzaemon said. "I'd think one of the original Digidestined would keep better company. Maybe you'd like to just leave them behind?"

Mimi crossed her arms. "You know who I am, but I don't think you really know me." She beamed with pride. "My friends are always good company."

* * *

"That wasn't fun," Betamon grumbled, picking himself up out of the mud puddle that he and Scarmon had landed in.

"I dunno, getting thrown down that thing was annoying, but sliding down was kind of fun!" Scarmon said.

"Look out below!" someone hollered. The two digimon looked up to see their human partners sliding down the incline as well, both about to land on them.

Betamon and Scarmon got out of the way just as the two boys landed face down in the mud, followed shortly by Psychemon, who immediately tried to get her shades clean.

"See, I'll bet Jin had fun," Scarmon said to Betamon, looking to Jin for confirmation. "Right, Jin?"

Jin raised his face, spit out a small clump of dirt, then shoved Scarmon's head into the mud and held him there while he struggled. "Hilarious. Well, let's hope they didn't shove Mimi down that thing or we're never going to hear the end of it," he said, wiping mud off of his shirt.

"Mimi?" Michael asked, looking over his shoulder.

"What're you doing, Mike? Hoping that Mimi will come down this thing feet-first and you'll get to see up her skirt?"

Michael frowned at him. "Get serious, Jin," he grumbled. "You're as bad as Amanda." Then a smile came to his face. "In fact, you two would make a great couple!"

"Take that back, preppie!" Jin shouted, pouncing on Michael and trying to shove him into the mud. "And quit laughing!" he said, though he was starting to laugh as well. "I swear I'll, heh heh, I'll kill you, you blonde—"

"Ooh, what have we here?" Amanda remarked as she and the others arrived, interrupting the fight suddenly. "Why, if I knew there would be mud wrestling, I'd have placed a bet!"

Jin and Michael both stood up, stiff as boards as they crossed their arms and tried to look dignified, even though they were both caked with mud.

"That's a great disciplinary technique, Amanda," Penguinmon chuckled. "Make threats and they ignore you. But they'll listen tight as soon as you insinuate that they're—"

"Fruits?"

"Okay, who said that?" Jin demanded.

They all looked and saw a small, gray Gazimon holding a bowl in his hands. Inside the bowl were a pear, an apple, an orange, and a peach. "I said, 'fruits,'" the Gazimon repeated. "Would you like some?"

"Well, sure," Amanda replied. "But who are you?"

The Gazimon laughed. "I guess Psychemon didn't tell you everything."

"Oh, that's right!" Psychemon chuckled. "So, like, I told everyone you might be coming here after the trial, so they sent a welcoming committee. And here they are!"

"Who's 'they'?" Michael asked.

When they all looked, they saw that the Gazimon who'd presented the offering of fruit was standing ahead of a large crowd of digimon. Among them were several more Gazimon, a small pack of Numemon, a Vegiemon, a pair of Vilemon, and a large Devidramon.

Amanda couldn't help but take one step back, but Ángel placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "I don't think they're here to fight," he said.

"Okay, everyone," Psychemon said, "these are a few of the citizens of Partition that you won't see walking around wherever they please. These are the 2nd class citizens of the town, the good digimon of the Norton District. Welcome to the Virus Ghetto."

"Unbelievable," Jin breathed. "They're all Virus digimon. Like ours, Michael."

Michael nodded.

"No one will judge you here," a Numemon told Scarmon and Betamon. "We're all Virus-types in this neighborhood, and we treat everyone with respect and dignity."

"Hi everyone!" Mimi said warmly.

The Numemon were entranced. "Wow!" they all exclaimed, in unison, running for her. "Marry us!"

Mimi's look of surprise and disgust gave way to delight as the Numemon were overrun and shoved aside by an even larger crowd of considerably more welcome admirers:

"Princess Mimi!" the group of Geckomon cried as Mimi welcomed them with open arms.

"Boys, Vaccine and Data-types, and now Virus-types," Amanda sighed. "Everybody loves Mimi. They should make a sitcom called that."

"Sounds good. You could be the wacky neighbor," Michael joked, right before Amanda shoved him back into the mud.

"I am _nobody's_ Kimmy Gibbler," she grumbled.

* * *

"Amazing," Jin murmured as he peered out the window. After their arrival in the Virus Ghetto, Psychemon took them all to her house. Of course, it wasn't really much of a house, but a crude shed made of oddly-sized boards. Such was the condition of all the buildings in the Ghetto. Michael had whispered to Jin that it looked like a third-world country with all the ramshackle buildings and the dirt road and the neighborhood that was barely separate from the woods surrounding it. Jin had agreed, but he felt strangely nostalgic. It reminded him of his former home in Japan, which was nowhere near this impoverished, but had been a poor slum nonetheless. What was more, as they walked up the main pathway, all the digimon came out from their crooked shacks and sheet-metal lean-tos and waved in greeting. Unlike when they had first entered Partition, everyone seemed friendly and trusting.

"So, this entire village is made up of Virus digimon?" Jin asked, turning from the window.

The others sat at the table in Psychemon's cramped kitchen/living room. "Well, actually this isn't a separate village, it's still part of Partition, but yeah, pretty much," Psychemon said. "With me as the exception."

"How did this happen?" Michael asked.

"Has it always been this way?" Ángel asked.

Psychemon shook her head. "No, it wasn't always like this. After the Digital World was reborn, people were just relieved things were getting back to normal, but then Tapirmon came. He told everyone that digimon like the Dark Masters could come back at any time if evil wasn't 'contained.' So, he started saying that when digimon digivolved into Virus digimon, it was a sign that there was something wrong with them. Virus digimon, he said, were naturally mean and nasty and didn't deserve the same privileges as Data and Vaccine types or they'd become greedy and turn evil."

"That's crazy!" Amanda exclaimed. "Virus digimon aren't evil. It's just the way their data is configured. All it usually means is that they're not something cute and cuddly."

"You mean I'm not cute?" Betamon asked.

"Well, some people think frogs aren't cute... but I'm not one of them," Amanda said, patting him on the head.

"What about me?" Scarmon asked. "Am I cute?"

"Hell no."

"Hey! Jin, stick up for me!" Scarmon yelled.

"She's right, you're not cute," he said with a shrug. "You're a steel trap with eyeballs. That's what I like about ya."

That seemed to satisfy Scarmon, so Psychemon went on.

"Pretty soon, Tapirmon was one of the most popular digimon in Partition. Once they started treating Virus digimon badly, everyone else's lives got better."

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked. "Tapirmon wasn't right, was he?"

"Of course not!" Psychemon cried. "But when Data and Vaccine digimon started firing their Virus workers, other Data and Vaccine-types got their old jobs. And then they boycotted Virus-owned shops and the other shops picked up their business. Pretty soon, the Virus-digimon were out of a job and a lot of them had to leave, which meant that there were fewer to speak out against Tapirmon. Then he won the election a year and a half ago and became the mayor. He appointed himself the County Judge and the Sheriff and then…"

Everyone waited for her to finish, but she looked pained by what was to follow.

"And then," a new voice said, "we got kicked out of our homes."

Everyone glanced at the newcomer, who'd just come in through the front door. "Gatomon!" Mimi cried.

"Not quite," she said, though even Mimi could see that she'd been wrong. The digimon had the same basic body type as Gatomon, but her fur was totally black, the gloves on her hands were blue and her eyes were an amber yellow. "You can call me _Black_ Gatomon."

Scarmon looked at the newcomer and felt his pulse quicken. Maybe it was the slow flipping of her long, black tail, maybe it was her large, deep yellow eyes, or maybe it was just something about her voice, but suddenly found himself grinning like an alligator.

"Well, hello!" he said, bounding over to meet her. "I'm Scarmon! And might I say, I've never felt so lucky to have a black cat cross my path as I do right now!"

That's when Jin knuckled him in the head. "What's wrong with you?" he growled. "Using a corny line like that on someone you just met!"

"And this is Jin, my partner" Scarmon went on, undaunted, yet still pinned by Jin's fist. "Did I mention I'm a Digidestined? Well, come on, Jin, say hello."

Jin's sensibilities took over and he lifted his fist from Scarmon's head. He stood and gave a curt bow. "It's nice to meet y-OW!" he shouted as Scarmon chomped his leg.

Black Gatomon cracked a smile as Jin and Scarmon snarled at each other.

"Everyone, this is my roommate," Psychemon said. "Like she was saying, after Tapirmon became the mayor, he zoned the town in two. He said Virus-types couldn't live in the main part of town and zoned them to this area at the bottom of the hill. He called it the Norton District, but it's pretty much a ghetto, so that's why everyone calls it the Virus Ghetto."

"But what are you doing here?" Ángel asked.

"Yeah, you're not a Virus," Amanda remarked. "Isn't there some law against you staying here?"

"No, Data and Vaccine digimon are allowed anywhere, it's just Virus types that are limited. And I'm here because I didn't think what the town was doing was right."

"In other words," Black Gatomon explained, jumping in, "she gave up her nice house in town and her own practice as a lawyer to live here and act as defense council whenever they slap a bogus charge on one of us." She licked her paw, then added "She's a total idiot."

Psychemon smiled. "Maybe. But I did get you out of that burglary charge."

"What did you steal?" Scarmon asked.

"Nothing," Black Gatomon replied. "I found this bracelet in the trash and someone accused me of stealing it." She brought around her tail and displayed the bracelet, which was clasped around it elegantly.

"It looks nice on you," Scarmon said.

"Thank you," Black Gatomon said, genuinely flattered.

"Why don't you tell us about the case? You know, we just got out of court, too."

"We could go up to the roof and talk about it," Black Gatomon offered. "It's cooler up there, with all the shade from the trees. It's kind of stuffy inside."

"Sweet," Scarmon said, following her outside.

"Hey, don't you want to hear the rest of Psychemon's story?" Jin called.

"Eh, I'll get the rest of it from Black Gatomon," Scarmon said, not even looking back.

"Jeez, it's true what they say," Jin grumbled. "As soon as they get a girlfriend, they start neglecting all their friends."

"Are you sure you are not just jealous that he is better with women than you?" Ángel whispered.

"Well, like I was saying," Psychemon continued over the sound of Jin grumbling, "after the Virus Ghetto got started, a lot of us on both sides of the issue left Partition. But most of us lived here all our lives, so we decided to stay. Some of us want to see Partition desegregated, but a lot us don't want to rock the boat. Most of us are stuck here, and the Virus-types here don't want to jeopardize their job, which is the one job that they're allowed to hold."

"What job is that?" Amanda asked.

Psychemon frowned. "Garbage collectors."

"Not an altogether unfitting position," someone said.

"Who's there? Who said that?" Psychemon demanded.

The speaker was at the front door. He appeared to be a human wearing a brown cloak.

Jin clenched his fist. "Who are—"

"A guardian!" Mimi exclaimed, recognizing the garments he wore.

"Yes," he said, pulling back the hood. He had short, light brown hair and a short, neatly trimmed moustache. He stood tall and he looked like he was in his thirties, but he had a very _old_ look about him and his eyes were hardened and cold. "I've come to request your presence, Digidestined. My master would like to see you." He turned to Jin. "Especially you, Jin Takamura."

Jin gawked at him. "How do you know my name?"

"I know an awful lot about you, unintended one."

* * *

"Are you sure it is wise to leave Scarmon alone?" Ángel asked Jin.

"He'll be fine," Jin said. "He's with Black Gatomon and Psychemon, after all. This is more important in the meantime."

"Do you know how he knows you?" Mimi asked.

"No idea," he replied. "But he looks kind of familiar."

The stranger led them back to the main part of Partition to a small house on the corner with a small garden at its side. Once inside, he told them to wait while he went upstairs and announced their presence to his master.

"He certainly has a lot of books," Michael remarked. They stood in the main room of the house and each wall had a large bookcase in which stood several volumes of faded books and some appeared to be old parchments bound together with ribbon or string.

Amanda took one of the volumes from the shelf and opened it. "Hey," she said as she tried to read it, "what is this?"

She showed it to Penguinmon, who seemed a bit confused as well. "Well, it's Digicode, the written language of the Digital World, but I don't recognize any of the words."

"That's because it's an old dialect," Jin told him. "No one's written in that kind in over 200 years."

"How do you know that?" Amanda asked him.

Jin crossed his arms and gave a smirk. "Living in the Digital World for five years and doing a lot of traveling, you learn all kinds of things."

"What's it say?"

"Hard to say," he laughed. "I can read modern Digicode, but this is kind of outdated. I can make out some of it, if you'd like me to try reading it."

Ángel smiled. "You have been to many places, Jin. After our mission is over, I would like to see what is out there."

Jin nodded and would have tried to think of an anecdote, but the Guardian returned at that moment, saying, "He will see you now."

He led them up the stairs to a small room with a window. A hunched figure leaning on a cane was looking out the window. Next to him, a large rectangular object sat on a table, wrapped in paper and tied with string. The guardian went over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. The hunched figure turned and sneered when he saw Jin.

He was an old man. He had thinning white hair and a white moustache that was trimmed short, much like the young guardian. In fact, were it not for the age difference, they looked remarkably similar, so much so that many of them wondered if the old man wasn't the Guardian's father.

Then Jin started to laugh. It wasn't a mirthful laugh, however, but a mean-spirited, contemptuous laugh. _"Sugei, jiji,"_ Jin laughed. "I never thought I'd see you again. I mean, you were so old when we met, I thought you couldn't get any older without turning to dust!"

"I see you remember me, Jin," the old man said, a weak rasp in his voice. "It has been a long time. And your manners haven't improved in the interrim." He looked over to the other Digidestined, noting Mimi in particular. "Despite the company you keep. Where is your eating machine of a partner?"

"He's around," Jin replied with a shrug. "So, what's on your mind, prune face?"

"Jin!" Mimi cried, smacking his arm. "Don't be mean to the nice really, really old guy!"

"He doesn't seem that nice," Amanda commented, raising an eyebrow.

"It doesn't matter!" Mimi insisted. "The least someone could do is introduce us."

"Okay, Mimi," Jin agreed. "Old man, these are my friends: Michael, Betamon, Amanda, Penguinmon, Ángel, Muchomon, Mimi, and Palmon."

The old man gave a quick bow. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too!" Mimi said.

"It's a pleasure," Michael said.

_"Hola, viejo!"_ Muchomon said, raising a wing in greeting before Ángel clapped a hand over his beak. Jin cracked a smile.

"What did he say?" the old man asked.

"Never mind," Jin said. "Anyway, everyone this is the man who gave me my Crest and told me that my coming to the Digital World was an accident and that my partner and I were no good for the Digital World. I call him Mr. X."

"Oh…" Mimi said. "Well, I'm sure he didn't mean all that!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

"Yes I did," Mr. X grumbled. "And I was right, too."

"He really _isn't_ very nice," Betamon remarked.

"Quiet, _Virus!"_ Mr. X hissed.

Everyone stood in stunned silence. They could accept this from the other digimon in Partition, but from a Guardian?

"Looks like you haven't changed your mind about all Virus digimon being rotten," Jin said gravely. "You told me the same thing about Scarmon. That he was a Virus and that he was born to be evil."

"And that he was perfect for you, yes."

"You know... you're mostly responsible for me getting stranded in the Digital World for five years. I ought to pay you back for what you put me through." He looked over his shoulder, seeing his four friends and their worried expressions. "But I won't. I'm still not going to stand here and listen to your crap, though. I'm out of here." He turned to leave.

"Please wait!" the younger guardian said. "We must put our differences aside for a short while."

"And what are you supposed to be?" Jin asked. "His kid or something?"

"No," Mimi said. "That's Mr. X when he was younger. Gennai did the same thing: he made copies of himself."

"That is correct, Miss Tachikawa," the younger Mr. X said politely. "We Bitmen lack the ability to reproduce, but we can make copies of ourselves. New Bitmen are created by the Guardians of the Digital World. My master created me, a copy of himself, to help him in his old age and to carry on his work."

"Great, more of him," Jin sighed. "I think I'll call you Mr. Y."

"Whatever you like," Mr. Y said, "but we're wasting time."

"Indeed," Mr. X said. "I have something for all of you." He motioned for Mr. Y to hand them the rectangular object on the table. He shunned both Jin and Michael, but handed it to Mimi.

"Thank—oof!" she cried when he handed it off to her. The object was so heavy she could barely lift it. Curious as to what it could be, she unwrapped it and found a thick stone tablet. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's a stone tablet telling of the Ancient Enemy," Mr. X told them. "It says—"

"It _says,_" Jin interrupted, taking the tablet from Mimi, lifting it easily in one hand, "that all things came from the… One, I think. Then the One broke up and was made into five. There were two to… uh, protect the higher realms, and two to protect the lower realms. The fifth one was made to… to…"

"To _destroy_ it all," Mr. X finished. "This tablet relates a variation on an ancient legend. The story is that the first digimon, the mighty Goddramon, created the Digital World and all the digimon within it. However, he needed to create a means of making them thinking, living beings. It is said that He gave His own life force to animate them somehow, and that from His physical body, four creatures were formed. They are, supposedly the four Guardian Beasts of the Digital World. The 'realms' are the four hemispheres guarded by each Beast. And yet this tablet here breaks with that tradition by mentioning the fifth being that sprang from him. I have done much research, but I am convinced that this fifth being is the Ancient Enemy."

"Well, great, but how does that help us?" Jin asked skeptically.

"Maybe if you were a better reader, you would have noticed that there was more to the tablet," Mr. Y said.

Jin looked at the tablet and saw there was indeed more to it. "It says…"

"I'll do it myself!" Mr. Y snapped, yanking it from Jin's hands. "It says, 'The Nemesis of the world hides in the light and cannot be stopped until met by the Alliance. They will stand for the world and defeat the Nemesis only by pronouncing its true name.'" Mr. Y looked up. "The Nemesis, again, must be the Ancient Enemy. The Alliance, I presume, means the ones who see visions of him, in this case, the ten of you. As to what his true name is and what that even means is beyond us."

Ángel nodded solemnly. "Thank you for telling us this. We will not fail to stop him."

Mr. Y smiled and handed Ángel the tablet. "We want you to have this. Perhaps you can reference it on your journey, discover its meaning. We've certainly done all we can researching it here."

"Well, thank you for all your help," Mimi said. "I guess we should leave—"

"Just a moment. I'm afraid that we aren't quite finished," Mr. X said. "There is one matter that I must see settled while I still have the chance to settle it."

"If you're including us in your will," Jin chuckled, "we don't want your stamp collection."

"Ah, Jin," Mr. X sighed. "You're the worst mistake I ever made. Tell me, do you still have the Crest of Rage?"

Jin reached into his shirt and held the crest up for display, the red symbol set against black clearly visible. "I haven't used it in a while, but I keep it with me," he said.

"I'm glad you have it with you," Mr. X said. "Now give it to us."

"What?"

"Give it to us!" Mr. X demanded.

"No way!" Jin shouted, taking a step back.

"That was not a request," Mr. Y said sternly. He lunged at Jin and seized his hand around the crest as the other Digidestined looked on aghast.

* * *

"So everyone here has the same job?" Scarmon asked. The two of them were still sitting on the roof. Black Gatomon talked, he listened. And he didn't like what he heard.

"Yeah," Black Gatomon said. "We get paid a flat wage to gather everyone's garbage once a week and take it to the dump about a mile up the road."

"A mile?" Scarmon asked. "With the entire town's garbage, getting paid just enough to be able to eat for the next week?"

"Not even that much," she sighed. "We have to forage if we want to eat every day. Some of us have tried to grow gardens, but we're out among all these trees, so we can't grow much in all this shade."

Scarmon snorted. "Cut the trees down."

"We can't," Black Gatomon said. "It's illegal to cut down a tree in and around Partition without a license."

"Then get a licence."

"We _can't!"_ she cried. "It's illegal for Virus digimon to be licensed!"

Scarmon just looked at her. Then he glanced down at the street. He saw a few Bakemon float by and supposed that they wouldn't have many problems hauling garbage a mile out of town and then getting back. But then he saw a group of small Pagumon playing just up the road.

"Those Pagumon… do they have to haul garbage too?" he asked.

Black Gatomon nodded. "They have to, or they won't eat."

Scarmon growled. "You know, I never really cared what happened to anyone else except my partner and me. Then we met up with these other guys… they're a bunch of idiots, but they're really all right. Muchomon's probably one of the first other digimon I've liked. But as a Virus, seeing all this... it really pisses me off." He turned to Black Gatomon. _"Kuro-chan,_ I wanna help."

Black Gatomon smiled. "How?"

Scarmon chuckled. "Get the rest of the Virus-types here. Psychemon too. If there's one thing I know how to do, it's cause trouble."

* * *

Mr. Y seized onto the crest and tried to pull if from Jin's neck. He could feel the cord digging into his flesh, but tilted his head back to keep Mr. Y from slipping it off. With one hand, he also held the crest, refusing to let Mr. Y have it, while he used the other to try and push him back. To his surprise, Mr. Y turned out to be remarkably strong. In fact, he was getting better leverage and using his legs gain a better foothold. Jin's own legs had gotten stronger from all the walking as of late, but still weaker than his opponent, and even now he felt Mr. Y overpowering him.

"You have to give it up, Jin!" he hissed. "It's for your own good!"

Jin felt his blood run cold at that utterance. So many times had someone else forced him to do things he hadn't wanted, things he'd hated. That person had said the same thing, that it was for his own good. His defiance of that person's words had been the cause of much guilt for years and now the memory overtook him.

That person. His mother.

"No!" Jin shouted, gritting his teeth, feeling himself growing weak against Mr. Y's grip. "Don't take this from me! I can be good on my own; this crest is my only proof!"

"You cannot be trusted, you little brat!" Mr. Y shouted back. He gave a sharper tug on the crest and felt it slip further forwards, even as Jin was beginning to tear up and begging him to stop.

Then he felt another hand on his own arm. Then another, and still more, until he saw that the other four Digidestined had all seized his arms, the four digimon shoving themselves against his legs. He looked with surprise at their faces, and each looked fiercely determined. With one unified motion, they all shoved him backwards, away from Jin, and then stood in front of him like a wall.

"What… what are you guys doing?" Jin asked.

Michael looked over his shoulder at him. "Well, you know… all for one, right?"

"You don't know what you're doing!" Mr. X shouted. "If you let him keep the Crest of Rage, it will be a disaster."

"Then it'll be a disaster," Jin growled, dusting himself and returning the crest back inside his shirt.

"You do not understand," Ángel said to Mr. X. "The Crest of Rage is a part of Jin. Even if you took the crest from him, it would still be with him. Everyone knows the first Digidestined defeated Apocalymon without their crests. Besides, it means much more to Jin as reminder of himself than it does for you to take it back."

"I understand perfectly," Mr. X said. "But him having that crest makes it tangible. It would be better if he gave it up, kept it far from his thoughts, and best of all if he just gave up his Digivice completely and went home."

"What did he ever do to you?" Amanda demanded. "Without Jin, I might not be here right now! He saved my life! He and Ángel are DNA digivolve partners, we need both of them!"

"Bah. He never did anything to _me._ And if he loses control of his temper, you all might be in far worse danger."

"I'm getting really sick of you, old man," Jin said, cracking his knuckles.

"Of course, Jin," Mr. X said. "Go ahead. Vent your frustrations on me. Hurt me, perhaps even kill me and feel better about yourself. Let _me_ suffer because _you've_ got issues. Just like you've done countless times before. Just like in the Aimac Caverns."

Jin faltered for a moment. "The... Aimac Caverns?" he asked.

"Jin, what's he talking about?" Mimi asked.

"A place in the Bad Sector called the Aimac Caverns," Mr. Y replied before Jin could. "It was a large cave system where a gang of renegade Veggiemon and Red Veggiemon were hiding out. Jin and his partner were out to clean up the Digital World. This was in the days of Spiral Mountain, during the year-long reign of the Dark Masters."

"Don't." Jin said. "That was a long time ago."

Mr. X grinned. "Oh, I think it's time your friends saw your true colors come out, Jin. Listen carefully, children, I have a story to tell..."

* * *

Somewhere along the curving, physics-defying slope of Spiral Mountain, there was a cave amidst the region once known as the Bad Sector. A group of thieves, all Veggiemon and Red Veggiemon, were celebrating their latest haul. They'd overrun a small village, grabbed all they could, not the least of which was a hefty supply of sake. They lined the walls of the cavern and shouted and played some music. In the days of the Dark Masters, life was hard and the easiest way to live was to just take whatever one needed.

The music that filled the air, echoing off the rocky walls, emanated from an old phonograph player that someone had managed to find. Then, with a loud _thud_, the music died. Everyone quickly became aware of this and turned to see the cause of the silence.

A boy, a _human_ boy was standing next to the phonograph, now smashed and laying on its side. He was only halfway through his twelfth year, but the faint impression of facial hair was becoming apparent on his face. He had steely gray eyes and a sour expression. His black shirt and gray cargo pants were torn in several places and looked just a bit too small for him. It was apparent he'd tried to stitch them back together several times, but had since let them deteriorate, no longer caring if they fell apart or not. In one hand, he carried a large wrench. Slung on his back was what looked like a homemade crossbow and a quiver filled with crude arrows. Standing next to him was a short, black digimon with a wide, shark-like grin.

"Hello," Jin said, cracking a humorless smile.

"Who are you?" one Veggiemon demanded, hopping over to him.

"Me? I'm a disease," Jin replied. "I'm a plague on the Digital World, brought here accidentally from Earth. I'm here to wipe out every last evil digimon on the face of the planet."

"What, just you and your pipsqueak partner?" the Veggiemon laughed, causing the rest of the gang to laugh as well.

Jin's cold smile became a deliberate sneer as he seized the Veggiemon with one hand and, in almost the same motion, simply cracked him over the head with the wrench. The Veggiemon went still, as if frozen, and the laughter of the others died instantly, shocked at the suddenness and swiftness of the attack. Jin set the Veggiemon back on the ground. It gave a little gurgling utterance, its eyes looking out blankly, before it staggered back and fell over, deleting an instant later.

The other Veggiemon didn't wait long to react. "Get him!" one shouted over them all, and they all ran for him.

"Spare no one," Jin ordered his partner, holding up the Crest of Rage from its place around his neck.

_"Scarmon warp-digivolve to…"_

The Veggiemon stopped their assault when they saw Scarmon, then only a foot high, suddenly shoot up before them to a height of seven feet, towering over both them and his own partner. His body was all black, with the flesh separating in small gaps on his arms revealing muscle structure made of hundreds of tiny steel cables. His eyes were leering and yellow, the only things standing out on his black, expressionless face. His head was covered with a mass of twitching, shiny red snake-like tendrils. Most fearsome were his hands, because from his metallic fingers slid foot long metal claws, curving and sharp like knives.

_"…Carnagemon!"_

"W-w-we're not afraid of you!" a RedVeggiemon stammered. _"Spike Punch!"_

The spiked fists at the end of his vine-like arms hit Carnagemon right in the chest, but bounced off without leaving a mark or Carnagemon even batting an eye.

_"Is that the best you can do? Are you done?" _Carnagemon asked, his voice the nightmarish, discordant screech of a demon. _"Then just hold still and I'll make this quick."_

Carnagemon thrust his hand forward and impaled the RedVeggiemon on his long claws. The Veggiemon let out one small groan as Carnagemon yanked his hand back, then it was deleted without another word.

The rest of the Veggiemon all turned and ran helplessly deeper into the caverns. Carnagemon kept up easily and began attacking from behind.

_"Visceral Slash!"_ he screamed, making a long slash with one hand, eradicating a dozen or so Veggiemon just ahead of him. Going for another group, he had merely to cry his attack _"Head Tendrils!" _andthe red tendrils on his head snaked outward and ensnared the lot of them. Once he had them, the tendrils tightened their grip, slowly crushing them to death in their coils even as he pursued still more of them.

Jin followed behind. What few of the Veggiemon that Carnagemon passed over, the ones he failed to destroy or merely wounded, Jin was ready to handle. He had his crossbow loaded and his wrench ready and alternately bludgeoned or shot what was left behind. The two of them herded the Veggiemon into a dead end inside the Cavern. Once they had them cornered, they mercilessly destroyed each one of them until only one was left.

"Please spare me!" the Veggiemon begged.

Carnagemon looked to Jin. Jin raised a hand and stepped forward, mentioning for Carnagemon to yield.

"We heard you have prisoners," Jin said. A knowing smile spread across his face, but it was clearly not meant to put Veggiemon at ease. "Take me to them."

The Veggiemon took them to a large chamber hidden deep within the Caverns. The bottom of the chamber was filled with water and it was very deep. Suspended by a rope over the water was a cage filled with Mushmon.

"Who are they?" Jin asked the Veggiemon.

"These little mushrooms are soldiers of the Dark Master Puppetmon," Veggiemon replied. "We stole from his forest and they were going to tell him. If we got in trouble with the Dark Masters, it would mean the end of the group—"

"Your group is already over," Jin growled. "So, you imprisoned them?"

"That's what they did!" a Mushmon cried. "Master Puppetmon must have sent you! The Veggiemon did this to us, they're the ones responsible! They starved us so we couldn't use our attacks! They were going to kill us or ransom us or something! Please rescue us!"

"Puppetmon?" Jin chuckled. "No, he didn't send me. I'm just here to do the Digital World a favor and rid it of a few more digimon it could do without." He reached into his pocket and drew a switchblade. Next to him, the rope which held up the cage was tied and anchored. His expression never changed as he leaned down and cut the rope, ignoring the Mushmons' pleas for him to stop and ignoring their cries as they fell into the water and sank below its depths, the water suddenly bubbling and gurgling, eventually going still and calm.

"You... you just wanted to drown them all?" Veggiemon cried.

Jin then seized the Veggiemon and tied its vine-like arms into a knot, lifting it up to his face. "Listen carefully because today is your lucky day," he hissed. "I'm letting you go so you can spread a message. I want you to go back out there and tell everyone you meet what you saw. Let them know: evil will be punished." He let the Veggiemon drop abruptly. "I _will_ be free."

* * *

When Mr. X had finished the story, the other four Digidestined looked back at Jin. Jin said absolutely nothing, but merely leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, as if merely waiting for the story to be over.

"Well, that Veggiemon did as you said, Jin," Mr. X said. "He guessed you and that partner of yours must have destroyed over 100 digimon that day. No chance for surrender, no negotiations, no trials, no guess as to what any of them had even done. You didn't even bother to tell the village they raided where they could find their belongings. And that was only one of the countless examples of your cruelty. That's your true nature, Jin: you'll do anything, even kill without mercy, to satisfy your own needs. You're a monster, Jin. And the Ancient Enemy will take advantage of that."

Mimi looked to Mr. X, then back to Jin. "Oh, Jin," she whispered. "Please, tell him he's wrong. Tell him he heard the wrong thing. He's wrong, he has to be! You couldn't possibly have done those terrible things, please tell him!"

Jin looked up at Mimi, seeing that she was desperate for him to deny Mr. X's story, almost on the verge of tears. He saw the same plea in Amanda's eyes. There was pity in Ángel's, and a bit of mistrust in Michael's. He looked back at Mimi. "There's nothing else to say," he said finally.

Then he merely shrugged his shoulders, then turned and walked out of the room, his heavy boots sounding on the steps as he went downstairs.

"You see how it is, Digidestined?" Mr. Y asked. "Your companion is not your friend. He is _nobody's _friend. I know that when you move on, you will make the right choice and leave that monster behind."

**To be continued…**

_(Next tim__e: With the trust of the group shaken, the team needs a little space. Meanwhile, the Virus digimon give the town of Partition a piece of their mind. Amid this conflict, the last member of the Eight Gods shows himself at last...)_

_P.S. You have a voice and an opinion! Make it known! Leave a **review**!_**  
**


	17. Cult of the Kill, Part II

_(Here's to Ryan Griffin, the alert reader who __wrote me to say that he figured out that the name Eight Gods [while slightly based upon the "Seven Lucky Gods" of Ranma ½ fame] was in fact an in-joke on Taichi and Hikari's Japanese surname: "Yagami," as most of you die-hard fans know, means "Eight Gods." And that's how I came up with the name. Kudos, Ryan Griffin!)_

**Chapter Sixteen:**

**Cult of the Kill, Part II**

The four humans and digimon caught up with Jin back at the Virus Ghetto. Each of them was taking the situation apprehensively. None of them could believe that the boy they'd come to call comrade had been so merciless and cruel. Michael and Mimi had seen Jin nearly unleash Carnagemon's power upon the city of New York, and they'd both heard that Jin had been somewhat ruthless in his earlier years in the Digital World, but neither of them had heard an account quite like that. Both of them had somehow convinced themselves that Jin didn't really have the heart to kill anyone, human or digimon, as a first course of action rather than a final one. Now, feeling disillusioned, they walked along with Ángel and Amanda, neither of whom had ever guessed at Jin's former brutality.

They had meant to speak to Jin back at the Virus Ghetto, to talk things over, maybe hear his side of the story, but when they found him there, he was not alone.

Gathered at the center of town was the entire Virus population of Partition. Jin was amid the crowd of digimon and all of them were gathered near one of the taller ramshackle buildings. Standing atop the building was Scarmon, Black Gatomon right behind him.

"Jin… what is all this?" Ángel asked hesitantly.

Jin cracked a smile and thumbed in Scarmon's direction. "Looks like my partner's been busy while we were gone."

"…I know you're nervous about all this," Scarmon was saying, his harsh voice still carrying very well over the crowd, "but this is the only thing you have over the rest of the town!"

"Scarmon!" Muchomon called, flying over the heads of the crowd, trying to attract his partner's attention. "We just came back. Please, tell us what is going on."

"Glad you asked," Scarmon said with a grin. "I've been talking to Black Gatomon here for a while and she's told me all about what the Mayor and the rest of the town has been doing to the Virus digimon here. They've forced the Viruses to take the only job they won't do: garbage collectors. And they're hardly paying them enough to survive for doing it. So now I'm telling them that the only way to get them to change the laws around here is to force them."

Muchomon was aghast. "You want them to start a war?"

"No. I'm telling them to take a stand and tell the rest of Partition to take out their _own_ garbage! The Virus digimon aren't going to do their dirty work anymore! Until the Type-zoning laws are lifted and everyone gets treated equally, the Virus Ghetto is on strike!"

There was a great cry of triumph from the crowd, but some remained skeptical.

"But what if the Vaccine and Data types just start carrying their own garbage?" a Raremon asked.

"They probably will," Black Gatomon said, stepping forward. "But they'll get tired of hauling it to the dump every day. Especially since they've been relying on all of us and we account for a third of the population here. Then they'll complain to the Mayor and stop paying the Sanitation Commissioner."

"Who's the Sanitation Commissioner?" Michael asked.

"Tapirmon!" the crowd shouted.

"You had to ask," Amanda chuckled.

"But what about our money?" a Gizamon asked. "How will we be able to afford food or supplies if nobody will pay us?"

"We'll just have to plant our own gardens and forage for food until they give in to our demands."

"We can't grow anything with all this shade!" a Gazimon laughed. "We tried that already and it didn't work!"

"So we'll cut down trees and make room for them!"

"Oh, really?" a familiar voice asked. The crowd parted as the tiny creature with the white fur and maroon ears made her way to the front, the police cap she wore warding off the Virus digimon like she was the queen of all creation. Labramon stared up at the leaders of this rabble and growled. "And tell me how you plan to do that, when you need a license and Virus digimon aren't allowed to get licenses?"

"Easy," Black Gatomon said. "We'll break the law."

"Ha! I'll be right there to arrest you!"

"Go ahead," Scarmon laughed. "I'd like to see how far you get!"

"Scarmon, you can't resort to violence!" Betamon exclaimed.

"Violence shmiolence," Scarmon scoffed. "If everyone in town makes room for a garden, there aren't enough police or a big enough jail to arrest everyone. No one needs to fight, but no one needs to cooperate if the cops come. They'd have to drag us by our feet, and for some of us, that's impossible."

Some of the very large digimon present chuckled.

"We'll cram in as many as we can," Labramon retorted.

"If you overcrowd those jails," Psychemon interjected, "you'll be guilty of inhuman conditions and you and the mayor will be held accountable by the Folder Judicial Committee this year. And that's only a few months away."

Labramon was at a loss. She looked very uncomfortable around all these Virus digimon and she was lost before the confident smirks of Scarmon, Black Gatomon, and Psychemon.

"This isn't over yet!" Labramon shouted, turning tail and heading back towards Partition amid some laughter and loud "boos" from the crowd.

"Listen up everyone," Black Gatomon said. "I know this is going to be hard, but Scarmon's plan is the best idea we've had. We've gotten so used to just doing what we're told that we've forgot how to stand up for ourselves. But we understand that not everyone wants to go along with this. If anyone doesn't want to be a part of this, raise your hand now."

Everyone looked around, searching for a telltale hand of descent. A paw, a claw, a tentacle, or an ear would signal those who weren't interested. Scarmon and Black Gatomon looked around at the crowd, seeking out those who wouldn't go along with their risky plan.

Not a single hand was raised.

* * *

"So that's how it is?" Tapirmon asked.

Labramon nodded.

The Mayor reclined in his chair as he sat in his office. "You know, I received a letter from someone today and I found it quite disturbing. And prophetic as well." He patted a letter and an open envelope lying on his desk. "It said that the Virus Digidestined would be coming upon our village if they hadn't already, and that they might make trouble for us. If that were to be the case, I should hang a black cloth out the window of my office, and this person would offer us a solution." He got up from his chair and removed a small rag of black cloth from his desk and went towards the window.

"What solution?" Labramon asked.

Tapirmon didn't turn around. "Call a town meeting. Don't tell the Viruses. Data and Vaccine only, of course. Tonight at midnight." He paused for a moment, then chuckled. "Those Virus devils will want to make a deal. But they don't know that we've got our own devil backing us."

* * *

After a lot of shaking of hands and many thanks from the citizens of the Virus ghetto, things finally let up and the others got a chance to speak with Jin and Scarmon.

"Jin," Ángel said. "Jin… _tenemos que hablar contigo."_

"Talk?" Jin asked. "About what?"

"It's…" Mimi began, jumping in. "It's not easy—"

"Are you some kind of killer?" Amanda asked.

Penguinmon winced. "That was a little blunt—"

"We need to know if we can trust you," she insisted. "I always knew you were some kind of tough guy, but… but I… I'm not sure I want to be around someone who can do things like that."

Jin stared back at them.

"Jin, it is not that we don't want to be your friend," Ángel told him. "We just want a sign from you that you are not like what Mr. X and Mr. Y told us. Just say that we can trust you, that you have changed, and we will believe you."

The four of them all looked to each other, then assumed a mutual hopeful smile as they looked to Jin.

Jin, however, did not smile. He did not look angry or even upset. Instead, he looked very tired. Exasperated. He made no effort to reply to them, to say "Yes, you can trust me," no reassurance whatsoever. He just turned around and walked away.

"You guys really piss me off, you know?" Scarmon grumbled. "Humans make everything complicated."

"Well, Scarmon," Michael explained, "things like this are complicated."

"Oh, shut up!" he snapped. "It's not my business. I did what I thought was right and what Jin asked me to do. You guys have a problem with Jin, so you can work that out however you want. All I want to know is, will you stay here with the two of us, or do you just want to turn tail and run?"

"Scarmon, what are you asking?" Muchomon demanded.

"If you guys want to make clean break and just be the Digidestined minus me and Jin, go right ahead. If you want to stay and help us with the Virus Ghetto, then stick around."

"I'm not sure either is a good idea," Amanda said thoughtfully, almost to herself. "I don't know if we can fight without Jin, and I'm not sure this is our fight at all—"

"No!" Betamon cried. "This is important and we can't just abandon things now. We're involved, we shook things up around here. If we leave, what kind of heroes would we be?"

"I agree," Michael said, surprising everyone. "Betamon is a Virus, just like Scarmon. He's my partner and this is important to him, so it's important to me." He looked to Mimi. "Please stay. We have to stay together."

Mimi was momentarily startled by this plea, but she recomposed herself, smiled, and then nodded.

"Well, I guess we're all in," Amanda said. Then, sighing, she added, "I, Damoramu, will regret this."

Penguinmon shook his head. "You never let a serious situation stop you from an obscure anime reference, do you?"

"I do not know what Amanda is talking about," Ángel said, "but you may count on all of us, Scarmon."

"Glad to hear it," he said. "Okay, Betamon, you and Michael should stay here. The rest of you should go back to the main part of Partition, especially you, Mimi."

"Huh? Why me? What for?"

"Because Betamon's a virus and he ought to stay here and help me inspire the ghetto. And you guys should go back and keep an eye on things. Besides, Mimi, everyone in town, Virus or not, looks up to you and Palmon. Maybe you can help the cause."

"Wow, Mimi, we're icons!" Palmon exclaimed.

"Okay, then let's split up and meet back here tomorrow at noon," Scarmon told them.

Muchomon had to smile. "Who knew that you could use your head like this, Scarmon? We thought you solved everything with fighting, but now you are a great leader to these digimon."

Scarmon narrowed his eyes. "Idiot."

Muchomon, startled, was about to ask what he meant, but Scarmon walked away, Betamon and Michael following reluctantly behind.

* * *

"You understand?"

Tapirmon nodded. Before him stood a man wearing the robes of a Guardian, not unlike the one already living in the city. Like him, this one also seemed to have a distaste for Virus digimon. The two of them met just outside the village after he had hung the black cloth out the window. The Guardian wore a long cloak and it covered his face, but that didn't matter to Tapirmon. All that mattered was that he would make this problem go away.

"So, this one will handle the problem? No one else has to know?" Tapirmon asked uncertainly. "If it was anyone else, I wouldn't care, but if he's one of the—"

"Don't worry," the guardian assured him. "He can be trusted. The Digidestined will go after him after he does his job, you get none of the blame, and the Virus digimon get back to work."

Tapirmon licked his lips. "I'll have to run it by the town, of course."

"Of course. I am only happy to offer my services. It is only my duty as a Guardian to ensure balance, and we can't have Virus digimon getting out of control."

Tapirmon laughed. "You're all right, Guardian. You know, we've got another one of you guys who lives in this town, along with a younger version of himself. If you want to meet him—"

"Another time. I have other matters at hand."

"Oh. Well, whatever you say. Have him show up at midnight," Tapirmon told the Guardian and, walked back towards the village.

When he was gone, the Guardian raised his face upward. If anyone had been around, they would have seen his eyes under the shadow of the cloak. They were glowing red within his obsidian face.

"Way too hot for this getup," the "Guardian" said. The robes melted away and shifted form, changing to the more familiar denim shirt and jeans and the cowboy hat upon his head. "Much better," Delgado chuckled.

He looked approvingly at the town of Partition and made a grin that stretched from ear to ear. "Won't be long now. Don't disappoint me, Partition. It's been a while, but I'm going to have fun tonight!"

* * *

Once back in Partition, there had been no shortage of people who were willing to put up Mimi, Amanda, and Ángel for the night. They quickly found a nice little inn and they all got a room on the top floor. It had been such a long day that everyone was content to just go to sleep once night fell.

Ángel dreamt that night. He found himself back in his own home, smelling his mother's cooking, playing with Miguelito, and then going to work in the fields alongside his friends, his father, and the other men of the village. It was so vivid that he could swear that he felt the summer heat, and hear the crunch of gravel as he walked down the main path through the village. Then he felt a sudden chill and saw a great black cloud forming.

At first he thought it might be rain, but then he saw the huge red eyes that stared out from the cloud and knew that this was the Ancient Enemy that had come. He tried to warn the others, his parents and friends, but either nobody could see it or nobody would believe him. He climbed up to the top of the mountain where his village had been built and faced the black cloud with a stern face.

_"Boy… you intend to fight?"_ the Dark One asked in a voice like thunder.

"Yes," Ángel replied.

_"You won't win."_

"I will. It is my destiny."

_"Turn and run, and I will spare your life. All you need do is run."_

"Then my home will be unprotected."

The cloud swelled a moment, then seemed to dissipate. _"Your selflessness makes you brave. I'll look forward to testing your mettle in person, boy."_ The cloud was almost completely gone when the voice added one last thing: _"I'll see you real soon."_

He smiled. "Oh?"

_"Very soon." _The voice was almost gone, but then spoke one final word, and this was as loud as thunder. _"TOMORROW."_

Ángel gasped and sat up straight in bed. "He is close."

"Who?"

Ángel turned and saw Amanda standing at the window of their room, looking outside. "Amanda? What are you doing up?"

Her bottom lip quivered. "I had a bad dream."

"Me too," he said, getting out of bed and joining her at the window.

She heaved a sigh. "I guess it's because things have just gotten so crazy lately. With all that stuff Mr. X told us about Jin and Scarmon rallying the Virus digimon around here. And then everything that's been happening lately."

He nodded. "I know, it has been strange. Definitely the strangest time in my life."

They both looked out and took in the view of the bright moon overhead and appreciated the soft light it cast on the quiet town around them. It was hard to believe that a place that looked so peaceful could be so divided at its heart.

"Well," he said cheerfully, "I think we are almost finished here. The Eight Gods have almost all been defeated and I know we will beat our enemy soon."

"Yeah, but... to be honest, part of me really doesn't want it to be over."

Ángel looked at her with surprise. "What do you mean? Don't you want to win? We're trying to save the world!"

She giggled, but stopped herself. "Sorry. That just always sounds so weird, and you're so serious when you say stuff like that. 'Save the World,'" she said, immitating his light Spanish accent on that last phrase, causing him to blush in spite of himself. "But anyway," she continued, "of _course_ I want to save the world. But if we finish here, then... well, that's it, the adventure is over. And you know, I have to admit that even as crazy as all this stuff has been, it's been, well, kinda fun!" She turned to him, smiling. "Battling evil, exploring this huge and wonderful world. I mean look out at that moon! It's so big, and bright, and it really looks nothing like Earth's moon; how can we _not_ be a little excited about it?" She was quiet then. "And besides, meeting you guys and hanging out. It's all been so much fun. And when it ends, I'll have to go back to my boring little town where nobody treats me like a friend and I won't see you guys anymore."

"Don't be silly!" Ángel laughed. "We can always meet in the Digital World any time we like!"

"Yeah, I guess," she sighed, sounding not entirely convinced. "But you know... things and people have a way of getting away from each other."

He felt his pulse quicken and he felt that now was a good time to say something. He thought for a moment, choosing his words carefully and tried to think of a good way to say what he really wanted to.

"If we... what I mean is," he took a breath and steeled his nerves. "I don't want to go away from you. I would always want to see you again."

"That's sweet," she said noncommitally, but when she turned to look at him, she saw that he was looking at her with intensity, and his dark eyes were serious. "Wh-what? What is it, why are you looking at me like that?"

He smiled. "Because you look very cute standing there."

"Heh heh... no I don't," she said nervously. She scrunched inward, as if trying to hide herself. "I look like a wreck in this nightshirt. I can wake Mimi up if you want to see a cute girl stand here."

"No. I can see a cute one now." He took a step towards her, not close enough to be oppressive, but close enough to be noticeable. "I mean it. You look wonderful."

She stared back at him and her eyes went wide. "What are you- wait, is this... are you..." She tensed up, unable to believe what was happening. "Oh my god, oh my god, do you... _like_ me? I mean, 'that way?' Er, no, I mean... are you crushing on me?"

He tried not to laugh at how flustered she looked. "Well," he said, blushing slightly, "yes. I actually liked you since I first met you."

Even in the pale glow of the moon, he could see the red in her cheeks as it spread to the rest of her face. "Uwah! Why? Why me? Why would a cute guy like you be interested in-"

"Because you are very smart and very cute and we both know what it's like to come from a town where we don't quite fit in. I feel like we really do understand each other."

She was speechless for a moment, but then she punched him roughly in the shoulder. "You jerk! Why didn't you tell me before?"

Now it was his turn to look uncomfortable. "Well, I, uh... I guess two reasons." She looked away as she folded her arms, looking at him expectantly. "At first, I decided I would tell you after we defeated the Ancient Enemy. I would wait because I thought it was important to focus on our mission. But now... after yesterday, I was so worried, that... I don't want to have any regrets. I don't want to wait."

Her expression warmed. "Aww!" she cooed. "What's the other reason?"

He winced as he gave his answer. "Well... I didn't want to say anything because... I thought you liked Jin more."

"What?" she cried. "N-no, it isn't like that! I mean, sure, I like him and I did peep at him that one time in the lake—"

"Wait, what?"

"Er, nevermind! What I mean is that I, uh, I may have flirted with him, but that's just because, you know, we're out here in the wilderness, so hormones and instincts and cute boys and uhhhh-" She felt her pulse quicken even more when she heard him snicker. "B-b-but that was just playing around! I mean, I mostly flirted with him because it's funny to see him get embarassed, but I didn't really think it'd go anywhere anyway and Michael's right when he said he's too old and you're the same age as me, so that's totally cool but I didn't think that—"

She stopped when she saw that Ángel was now laughing at her, unable to contain it.

"Stop that!" she cried petulantly. "I know, I know, I'm such a geek! I— I'm sorry. I'll go back to bed."

He grabbed her hand, not letting her go back. "Amanda, it is all right," he said, still laughing slightly. "I don't think you are a geek."

"Heh... now you're just lying."

The two of them were quiet for a moment, Amanda not wanting to look at him at first, then finally turning to face him. However, even though he was smiling, his expression was not one of pity, nor was he mocking her. Instead, he was looking at her tenderly.

As Ángel looked at her, he took in her features complimented by the moonlight that came in through the window. Her pale complexion, the slight blush in her cheeks, her contrasting dark hair that framed her face, and the way her glasses magnified her brown eyes all transfixed him. He stepped closer to her.

"Amanda," he whispered, and, placing his hand on her shoulder, leaned forward. She almost pulled away and nearly gasped as Ángel's lips connected with hers.

_Oh my god, he's _kissing _me?_ she thought. At first she was so surprised she almost broke off the kiss by pulling away, but then relaxed, feeling the softness of his lips as she kissed him back. She felt a rush through her body, at once terrifying and exhilarating.

The kiss lasted only a few moments, but as it broke off, they both felt a kind of electricity in the air and neither one could look the other in the eye. Each of them wore a blush.

"Wow," she said. Her legs were still shaking. _So **that's** what a first kiss is like. I'm going to have to tell Jin he's been demoted. _"We should have done that a lot sooner."

Tenderly, he brushed the hair from her face with one hand. "Come on, now. No regrets, remember? Besides, now, I can at least say that I had my first kiss with a pretty girl."

"Oh, you're just saying that… Wait. _I'm_ your first kiss?"

Ángel nodded, amused. "And I am not just saying that."

"Oh. Uh... Ángel can you do me a favor, please?"

He looked at her uncertainly but replied. "Of course, Amanda. What is it?"

She put her hands to her cheeks and giggled nervously. "Please _don't_ read my mind right now."

_"Ahem."_

They both turned and saw that Mimi was standing nearby, watching all of this.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Mimi said innocently.

"Oh, no! Nothing at all!" Amanda said. "Right, Ángel?"

"No. Just me smooching Amanda," he said nonchalantly.

Mimi giggled as Amanda freaked out. "Well, not to criticize, but it's about time this happened!"

"I'll say," said Palmon, standing at Mimi's side.

"Ditto," said Penguinmon.

Amanda whirled around to see Penguinmon sitting on their bed. "How long have you been awake?" she demanded.

"Since you got up," he replied. "And I hate to break it to you, but Muchomon's awake too."

They both turned to see Muchomon sitting on he and Ángel's shared bed. "Ah, _qué romantico,"_ he sighed.

"Hey, wait a minute, everyone," Palmon said, going to the window. "I hear something. There's something funny going on out there!"

Muchomon chuckled. "So what? There is something funny going on in here too!"

"I'm serious, look at this!"

The group of them all looked out the window and saw that in the streets below, all the citizens of Partition, except the Virus-types, were hurrying out of their houses and heading for the town hall.

"That's weird," Mimi said.

"That's not just weird, that's suspicious," Amanda remarked.

Ángel went to the door and tried to open it. He found it locked tight and then banged on it loudly. "Hello? We are locked in here! Could you please let us out?" No one replied.

"Maybe they're asleep," Mimi suggested.

"Or maybe there's something they don't want us to get involved in," Amanda said. "We should break out of here and get to the bottom of this!"

"I have a better idea," Muchomon said. "I'll fly out this window and follow the crowd. Once I find out what is going on, I will come back and let you know. If you break out now, it might be loud, and they will be expecting us."

"That's a good plan," Penguinmon said. "But don't be gone too long. We'll wait fifteen minutes, but if we don't hear back from you by then, we'll just bust out and lend you a hand."

Muchomon nodded, then flew out the window, doing his best to keep out of sight as he followed the digimon of Partition towards town hall.

* * *

Michael looked up at the ceiling. He had hoped that he would get a bed or something other than his own sleeping bag, but he was happy to sleep inside for once. He found it a bit amusing that Scarmon and Betamon got to sleep in the bigger rooms of the small house, but he and Jin had to stay in the shed out in back. After all the times the digimon had to be crammed into closets and duffel bags, this was their day of reckoning, as it was now the humans' turn to sleep in cramped quarters.

He sighed. "What a day," he whispered.

"You awake, Mike?" Jin whispered.

"Yes," Michael replied. "I don't know why, but I can't sleep."

"Yeah, me neither. I'm probably still on edge from today. Crazy, wasn't it?"

"How so?"

"Well, we got arrested, almost put in jail, tossed down a mudslide, Scarmon's starting a revolution, not to mention that stuff with Mr. X—"

He cut off at that point, saying nothing further for several minutes. Then, hesitantly, he asked, "So, uh, I guess everyone's pretty upset, right?"

Michael thought for a moment. "Honestly? Yeah."

"I figured." He was quiet again and Michael thought he had finished and fallen asleep again, but then he asked, "So, why are you here? I mean, if you were that disgusted with me, you didn't have to spend the night in the same shed as me. I'm sure someone would have put you up for the night here in the Ghetto."

"Actually, I thought of that."

Jin grunted. "Oh."

"But then," Michael went on, "I decided that it doesn't really matter to me what you did in the past. I mean, it took me a while before I could forgive you for what happened last year, but I did— I _do_ forgive you. Even if you were a monster to all those digimon, you're not the same now. I think that's why you walked away without reassuring the others today: because you've been trying to prove that you're a changed man all this time, so you shouldn't have to tell people that you're good in order for them to believe it."

Jin sat straight up in his sleeping bag. At first, Michael thought that maybe he had said something wrong, but then Jin smiled. "Unbelievable," he said.

"What is?"

"You actually get something for once," he said. "And before Ángel or the others did."

Michael laughed. "Well, if I could figure it out for myself, then I'm sure the others will too."

* * *

"I'm just not sure about Jin," Amanda said.

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked.

"Oh, come on, we're all thinking about it, it's just that none of us want to talk about it!"

Mimi wrung her hands. "Uh-huh. I know, but…"

"We're not going to get anywhere by not talking about it," Penguinmon interjected. "So, we might as well get it out of the way while we're waiting for Muchomon."

"Well, what should we talk about?" Mimi asked.

"For starters," Amanda began, "can we trust him? I mean, what if this stuff with Partition gets to him and he decides that the best thing to do is just burn the town to the ground?"

"Jin wouldn't do that!" Mimi cried.

"He butchered that gang of thieves in Mr. X's story. Jin didn't deny it. He destroyed all of them and he doesn't even seem sorry about it!"

"But… but, just because he doesn't act sorry," Mimi said, "doesn't mean that he _isn't_ sorry." She thought this over and then smiled. "Of course! I can't believe I didn't think about that sooner!"

Amanda cocked her head to one side. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't know Jin like I know him," she said. "He doesn't apologize much, and he doesn't act very guilty, and he doesn't like to talk about how he's feeling much, even when he's really hurting inside." She chuckled. "He's such a... boy."

"Are you sure that he isn't just a jerk?" Amanda asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, he is a jerk sometimes," Palmon said.

"But that's just a cover," Mimi added. "You haven't seen him cry before. When he can't take things anymore, he cries like a little boy."

"Ha! Hoo boy, I get the feeling Jin would flip out if he heard you say that," Penguinmon said.

"And what would he do after that?" Mimi asked.

"Knowing him, he'd probably storm off to be by himself because he's too darn embarrassed to—" Amanda stopped there. "You're right. He _is_ like a little kid."

"And all this time, he's been doing his best to show that he's not like he used to be," Mimi said. "He did his best to save you from Pandamon, he partnered with Ángel to beat Orochimon instead of using the Crest of Rage, and he stopped Scarmon from fighting yesterday when all that stuff happened in the park yesterday, just because he didn't want anyone innocent to get hurt. We should never have asked him to say we could trust him; he should have earned our trust by now."

Amanda grinned. "You're right." Then she laughed. "Wow, this is a weird day. Jin's keeping his cool, Scarmon is a civil rights leader, and now Mimi's being the insightful one for a change!"

The two girls laughed, but stopped when they noticed that the whole time Ángel had been staring out the window.

"Hey, you're awfully quiet, Ángel," Amanda said. "What's up?"

Ángel sighed. "I do trust Jin, I really do. He really is a good person, but only as long as he has control."

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked.

"That time with Orochimon, I could feel the rage he has inside him," he explained, "but until today, I had no idea how dark it could be. If Jin is ever going to be free, he must rid himself of the darkness. The Crest of Rage will be his burden until he finds a way to get rid of it." He looked at the rest of them solemnly. "With that Rage in his heart, he may only help the Ancient Enemy when we finally meet."

* * *

Muchomon flew as quietly as he could to the town hall, only flapping his wings when he needed to keep himself afloat. When he finally reached town hall, he saw that almost everyone in the village was already there. Not wanting to attract attention to himself, he spied a circular window near the top of the building. Wedging his beak into the shut window, he opened it just enough for him to sneak in and then fly onto one of the rafters. Mayor Tapirmon was already at the head of the meeting, his three cronies Labramon, Deputymon, and Kokuwamon standing stiffly behind him.

Once the hall was filled, Tapirmon floated up to a podium and banged a gavel to quiet everyone down. It was already obvious from the tone of the crowd that they were angry.

"Okay, all right, everyone calm down," Tapirmon said. "I know everyone's a little concerned."

"Concerned?" one citizen cried. "I hear they're planning a revolution down there!"

"And what about our garbage? It's your responsibility to get it carted out of here, mayor, or I'm not paying one cent of my sanitation tax."

"And what about those Digidestined? I thought they were just going to leave, but two of them have moved into the Ghetto!"

"Order, order!" Tapirmon shouted. "Do you really think I would have called this meeting if there was nothing we could do?"

The crowd calmed down a little bit while Tapirmon regained his composure. When they were all quiet again, he continued to speak.

"Now, like I was saying, I know you're all concerned, and you have some good reasons for it. After all, the way we do things in Partition has given things their proper order. The way things are, everyone benefits."

"What about the Virus digimon?" asked one bold speaker from the back. "If all they want is the right to do some other work, I say we let them!"

"Silence!" Tapirmon shouted, even as others were already jeering the speaker. "Have you forgotten why we do things this way? It is true that all digimon are equal... but they are equal in _different_ ways. We Vaccine and Data types are ideal for the higher functions of society, but the physical and violence-prone Virus types are suited for physical labor. We have Type laws so that we may keep them in their ideal part of society. Why, if they were tempted with the power and privilege that we have, they might let their darker natures take over, and it would be absolute chaos! If chaos is what you want, then, by all means, let the Viruses have what they _think_ they want! I assure you, it will be the end of society once we're up to our necks in these Virus-types! Do you really want to be made to stand in the park while a pack of slimy Numemon are allowed to sit on a bench?"

The crowd became approving, becoming increasingly more behind Tapirmon.

"As to those specific concerns that have been raised," Tapirmon continued. "Labramon assures me that there is no revolution going on down there. It is merely a lot of Virus trash that has been all shaken up by the well-meaning, but sorely ignorant Digidestined."

"What about the Digidestined?" someone asked.

"I'll come to them, if you'll be patient, good citizen," Tapirmon chuckled. "As to the garbage collection, I assure you that they'll be happy to do it very soon. You see, they feel confident that they can make do on their small savings and do without the income from the trash collection for a while. But they are shortsighted themselves! They haven't considered what would happen if there was some sort of… accident."

Many members of the crowd laughed, but others muttered amongst themselves uneasily. Muchomon was starting to feel very uneasy himself.

"I hear many of you expressing doubts," Tapirmon observed. "You may be worried that we will have to get our hands dirty, that things will get ugly. And that we may face sanctions for aggressive actions that involve the Digidestined. But you don't need to worry. You see, I have made a deal that will put everything back in its right place."

"A deal?" Labramon asked, breaking her silence. "A deal with who?"

"Well, despite the fact that I told you and your two buddies to _shut up_ during the meeting," Tapirmon snarled, causing Labramon to whimper, "you did manage to bring me to my proposition. I've hired someone. He should be here in a few minutes, but his name is—"

He never managed to say the name however, as the doors of the hall suddenly flew open, slamming against the wall loudly as a hulking figure entered. The crowd turned around where they sat and looked to the newcomer. Muchomon stifled a gasp as he saw the intruder.

"I've heard about your problem, and I sympathize," he said. "I have a bone to pick with the Digidestined, but I do not want to get your fine town involved. Here is what the mayor has proposed:

"You want those Virus types to come crawling back, begging for their garbage collecting jobs. I will go to the Norton District and… cause a commotion, seemingly at random. In the wake of destruction, they will be in a crisis and need some income quick. They will resume their jobs out of desperation. I will leave and my enemies, the Digidestined, will come after me, leaving your village in peace. You'll get your order back, and you'll risk nothing."

The crowd mulled this over quietly. Tapirmon cleared his throat. "I should say that I won't ask our guest to do this task unless I have your consent, good citizens."

Many were quiet, but one got up and said, "What do you want with the Digidestined? We don't want to see them stopped from fulfilling their quest. Especially Mimi Tachikawa."

The newcomer thought fast. Telling them about the Dark One was out of the question. But he knew something that would make them happy. "I am only here to settle the score with the Virus Digidestined. They have wronged me in the past, I wish to duel with them."

The crowd again talked it over, this time sounding more confident, stronger in their resolve.

_This is not good,_ Muchomon said to himself. _I have to warn everybody!_ Determined to beat the stranger to his task, he fluttered back out the window and headed for the inn.

As he left, Tapirmon was saying, "I trust there are no objections?" There were none voiced. "Then, my friend, you may fly to your task."

The newcomer grinned widely. "Thank you," he said, and spread his blood-red wings.

* * *

The man known as Mr. Y hurried down the stairs. Mr. X was upstairs and had dozed off reading one of his books. Mr. Y hurried down the steps, trying to get to the door before the visitor's loud knocking awoke his predecessor. His finger to his lips, he hushed his visitor even as he opened the door.

"Please, keep your voice down or you'll—"

He saw that his visitor was wearing denim clothes and his ever-present cowboy hat. In the shadow of the hat's brim, his eyes were burning bright red.

"NO!" Mr. Y screamed, running back into the house. _"Master! He's here, he's here—"_

Delgado seized him by the neck, squeezing just hard enough to stop his screams. "Hello, bitman. I was wondering if I would get a chance to meet you." He chuckled, then pressed Mr. Y to the ground. In spite of his strength, Mr. Y's struggling was futile against the awesome power Delgado possessed. "Now, what are they calling you? Mr. Y, is it? Anyway, Y, I want you to know that I'm not here to kill your master. Or you. No, no, you'll die later and you'll be thanking me when that happens. As for your predecessor, he will die much sooner, but not at my hand. You see, I intend to use Mr. X as my pawn. He will be used to further torment the Digidestined. As for you, you will have a new master from now on." As he spoke, a few sparks of dark energy began to flow from his hand. He pressed his hand to the back of Mr. Y's head and let the energy sear into it, re-writing the data as he went. Mr. Y's screams came out as raspy gurgles.

"I think I should tell you," Delgado added, a smile on his face, "I've never actually done this before."

* * *

"Ángel!" Muchomon hollered as he flew in through the window. "We have to get to the ghetto!"

"What?" Mimi asked. "Why? What's going on?"

"The mayor has hired someone to attack the Norton District. He says he wants to lure out us Digidestined. I think he is the last of the Eight Gods! That is why they locked us in here: to stop us from interfering with the Tapirmon's plan!"

"Well, then let's get moving!" Amanda exclaimed. "Let's break that door down and go help Jin and Michael!"

"No problem!" Ángel declared. "Hey, Amanda, watch this!" he said with a wink and ran at the door, ramming his shoulder as hard as he could into the locked door... which didn't budge at all. He clutched his shoulder in pain, muttering, _"Ay, qué dolor."_

"Uh, I meant have the digimon break down the door," Amanda said. "But, um, nice try, though."

* * *

"Jin! Mike! Get moving, we've got trouble!"

Jin sat up straight. He looked to the door of the shed, hearing Scarmon approaching.

"That's not a particularly good sign, is it?" Michael asked as he rubbed his eyes tiredly.

Jin grabbed a hold of Michael's clothes and threw them at him. "Forget the complaints, this could be serious!"

Moments later, as Jin was throwing his own clothes on, Scarmon and Black Gatomon came through the door, Betamon right behind them.

"Come on, you guys, we're under attack!" Scarmon shouted.

"By whom?" Michael asked as he tied his last shoe.

"Him!" Black Gatomon cried, pointing at the sky.

They all stuck their heads outside the shed and looked upwards. Outside, several buildings were already in flames and they cast an angry red color on the whole area. In the air, amid the smoke and the shadows, they spotted the huge, winged silhouette of the one responsible.

"That's him!" Betamon shouted.

The figure took a sweep back towards them. _"V-Breath Arrow!"_ it shouted, sending a burst of light at Psychemon and Black Gatomon's humble home. Upon impact, the shack was blasted apart.

"Psychemon!" Jin cried.

"It's okay!" Black Gatomon yelled. "She went around to help evacuate the others and help protect the younger ones." She watched as the figure took off, then looked back down at the smoldering remains of her house.

"Don't worry, Kuro-chan," Scarmon said. "You… I'll help you build a new house."

Black Gatomon shook her head. "It's just a shack, forget about it for now! Just get out there and stop him from wrecking anything else!"

* * *

"We're… almost there!" Mimi gasped after she, the other two humans, and their Champion-level partners ran the whole way from the inn to the ghetto. It was only when they finally rounded the next bend that they saw what had already transpired.

"Oh… oh no."

Mimi's reaction was shared by all. Several houses that had stood there just that afternoon were now on their sides, smashed to bits, or raging bonfires. The sound of screams was now not merely audible, but almost deafening. As they went through the streets, cautious of fire and sudden explosions, they made their way towards Psychemon and Black Gatomon's house. Before they made it there, however, they found their companions.

"Bring him down, Venomon!" Jin was shouting to his digivolved partner.

Venomon was trying his best, leaping into the air and snapping at the feet of his airborne opponent and launching Venom Spits at him. The opponent kept low to the ground, but kept just out of reach, as if toying with Venomon.

"Come on, is that it? Jump higher!" the opponent taunted.

Meanwhile, Seadramon had attempted to get to a higher point, then spring out above their enemy, but he was seen before he could tackle the enemy to the ground. The enemy dodged with ease and Venomon had to leap back as well just to avoid being pinned under Seadramon.

"Hi boys!" Amanda called. "You want some help?"

"As much as we can get!" Michael replied once he saw them.

"Well, then let's get this transformation sequence underway! Frigimon?"

_"Frigimon…"_

_"Seadramon…"_

_"…DNA digivolve to… Freezedramon!"_

_"Togemon digivolve to… Lilymon!"_

Jin watched as Ángel strode up next to him.

"What are you waiting for?" Ángel asked.

"Nothing," Jin replied. "We have to fight. But just so I know, what—"

"You want to know what our coming means?" Ángel asked. Jin nodded. "It means we have a job to do. But if you are wondering what we decided about you, then you should know that we have all stopped acting foolishly. We will trust you with our lives, no matter what your problems are. Your troubles are yours to deal with, not ours to judge. And so, we will not worry about what you have done in the past, so long as you are with us now."

Jin grinned. "That's what you all talked about, huh? Well, then let's cut the conversation and finish this guy off."

"Jin, are we good to go?" Venomon called, eyeing the other Ultimates and then FlareLizamon.

"Absolutely."

"In that case… _Venomon…"_

_"FlareLizamon…"_

_"…DNA digivolve to… Quemamon!"_

Faced with three new opponents, their enemy did a curious thing: he landed and stepped into full view.

Amanda was stunned. "What the…"

Mimi was almost speechless, but managed to stammer, "He… he l-looks like Veemon…"

"That shouldn't surprise you," the enemy said, his voice a familiar throaty rasp. "I digivolved from a Veemon, you know. But that was ages ago." The enemy was almost entirely blue, save for some white splashes on his hands and face and along the underside of his tail. He had huge gray horns protruding in a V from the back of his head like a goat, and a metallic, blade-like horn sticking out from the tip of his nose. He also had a pair of tattered, dark red wings growing from his back. He had wild green eyes and, most noticeably, a stark white V across his muscular torso. "My name is AeroVeedramon."

Though he was actually smaller than both Quemamon and Freezedramon and his hunched stance made him look only slightly larger than Lilymon, he clearly had tremendous strength and his claws made him look all the more deadly.

"Why are you doing this?" Mimi demanded.

"Why?" AeroVeedramon asked, looking genuinely confused. "Because they deserve it. Just as you will deserve the death that I give you."

"You must be one of the Eight Gods," Freezedramon growled.

"I am the last of the Eight Gods, as you know," AeroVeedramon replied. "They say that as long as one of us lives, the Eight Gods will never die. However, I only joined the Eight Gods because it was the proper place for one such as myself. Now, there is a greater calling for me. And all I have to do is…"

He grinned. Without warning, he had moved and planted his fist into Quemamon's gut, then was in the air seconds later, giving Lilymon a kick to the chin, then was zipping along the length of Freezedramon's body, putting a deep gash in his side with his huge claws. All three Ultimates were on the ground moments later, Freezedramon crushing a few flaming, abandoned houses as well. AeroVeedramon landed and crossed his arms confidently. "As I was saying, all I have to do… is kill you."

He looked over to the humans. "Weak little vermin," he growled. "Without digimon partners, you'd be worthless. I can't believe there's a whole planet of your kind. I sincerely hope that after I kill all of you, I'll get a chance to watch 'You-know-who' wipe out the whole of your miserable race!"

All of them were at first fearful that he would attack, then strong in their resolve to fight. "Maybe it's time to try out our new trick," Jin said to the others. They all nodded in unison. At that moment, all of their partners stood up and began to glow.

"What's this?" AeroVeedramon laughed. "I hope this makes you better fighters because—"

_"Plasma Column!"_ Quemamon shouted, hitting AeroVeedramon with a beam of green fire and knocking him back, off of his feet.

_"Flower Cannon!"_ Lilymon's attack struck AeroVeedramon in the shoulder, causing him to spin over and over again as he was flipped into the air.

_"Breath of the Winter God!"_ Freezedramon roared, hitting him with a tremendous blast of ice and snow that sent him soaring over the burning buildings and crashing through the trees of the forest, breaking trunks and boughs as he was propelled from sight.

"Did we get him?" Michael asked.

"We have to make sure," Ángel said. "Everyone follow him!"

* * *

Deputymon leaned over to Tapirmon. "We shoulda heard something by now, Mr. Mayor," he whispered.

Tapirmon nodded. The confident chatter of the assembly had now given way to more nervous talk. Someone should have gone calling for help, they could go and pretend to be good neighbors, act like they knew nothing of AeroVeedramon, etc., and they could get on with their lives. With open arms he would welcome back those Viruses and let them have their jobs back, no hard feelings, maybe with an extra few pennies per hour.

"Just be patient, officer," Tapirmon said. "Any minute now."

In spite of their anticipation, everyone was startled by the sudden knock on the door that echoed loudly throughout the hall. The doors opened slowly and a figure walked inside. But to everyone's surprise, it was not a digimon that stood in the doorway. To everyone there, the creature looked like a human.

"Who are you, stranger?" Tapirmon asked.

"Name's aren't all that important. You all know me, though. I'm not merely a visitor here, but a permanent resident."

"I… don't believe we've met, stranger," Tapirmon said.

"Oh, but we have, Mr. Mayor," Delgado said, looking up and offering a smile. His form shifted and he was again in the garb of a Guardian. "I am the one who told you all about your charge, AeroVeedramon. I offered you, and all these citizens of Partition, this one last option, one last chance to change your minds." He changed shape and was in his denim clothes again. "But you've made me proud. You've grown an excellent crop of darkness."

The assembly fell deathly silent. Labramon bounded off the stage and growled at Delgado. "Who do you think you are, barging in here like this? And how come you can change your shape? And—"

"You're a fine specimen of this town, Labramon," Delgado laughed. "Always baring your teeth and growling at the first perceived threat. You see, you poor wretches are so worried about the darkness on the outside that you never even noticed that which was growing inside. As I have said, you've grown an excellent crop of it." Delgado raised a hand and a small, smoky black ball formed at his fingertips. "And now it's time to harvest it. _Seed of Despair!"_

The ball lifted from Delgado's hand and flew at Labramon. She ran away yelping, but the ball seemed to follow her, and finally struck her in the back, sinking deep within her flesh. As she let out an agonized groan, she began to change color, her body twisting, contorting, and changing form into something new. The assembly could only look on in horror, their eyes wide as Labramon's familiar shape was replaced by the hideous form which slowly stood up before them.

"Well, that's one down," Delgado said, even as dozens of the same balls began to float up from his raised hands. "But I wouldn't want her to be lonely. _Seeds of Despair!"_

There was pandemonium as the assembly ran for their lives, scrambling over each other and running for the door as their friends and neighbors fell all around them, all becoming the horrific monsters that Labramon had become. All the while, Delgado was strolling casually up the center aisle towards Tapirmon. He held up one more Seed of Despair before him.

Tapirmon made one last attempt at defense. _"Nightmare Syndrome!"_ he attacked, belching out a black cloud at Delgado.

Delgado batted the attack away like it was a cloud of flies, then rushed forward and seized Tapirmon by the neck. "You're a special exception, Mr. Mayor. You've served me so far, and you're going to continue to do so from now on."

"Who… who are you?" Tapirmon asked.

Delgado pressed his face into Tapirmon's. "The Dark One. The Ancient Enemy. The Nemesis of the Ages. The Destroyer of All." Tapirmon stared, frozen as he found himself lost before those unblinking red eyes. He felt the darkness envelope him, as if it obliterated all else in his world. He heard Delgado's voice, terrible and distorted, as his mind slipped away: "From this day forward, I am your new God."

* * *

"Where is he?" Jin asked. They had already gone deeper into the pine woods, past the path where AeroVeedramon had smashed through the trees. And yet they found no sign of him anywhere and all three digimon confirmed that they did not catch the scent of shattered data, meaning he had not been deleted. "You're sure he's around here?"

"Positive," Quemamon replied. "He's injured. We can smell the blood."

Mimi looked nervous. "If you can track him all the way back here, why can't we find him?"

"Maybe because he is moving around," Ángel suggested.

"Then he probably isn't hurt too badly," Michael reasoned.

Amanda shook her head. "Impossible. We've all synched up with our partners just like Jin, Ángel, and Quemamon did with Pandamon. After all those attacks, he has to be badly injured."

After saying this, a raspy laugh echoed through the forest. "If I was any of the others, you'd be right. But I am no ordinary digimon, and I am by far the strongest of the Eight Gods."

Seemingly from out of nowhere, AeroVeedramon soared out of the woods, fist raised against Quemamon. _"Magnum Crusher!"_

The attack slammed into Quemamon's jaw and sent him headfirst into a tree, cracking it at its truck. AeroVeedramon vanished back into the woods. They could hear his leathery wings as he moved in the darkness.

"Where is he?" Lilymon asked.

"Can't tell," Quemamon said, getting to his feet. "The woods are echoing the sound. I can't follow him."

"You guys had better stay close to us," Freezedramon told the five children. "He's not playing around."

"Indeed," AeroVeedramon laughed from the darkness, "playtime is over. Any of the other Eight Gods would have been eradicated by your attack, but I knew I could take it. I'm no ordinary fighter, as you can see."

Jin scowled. "That clever son of a…"

"What is it, Jin?" Amanda asked, her eyes betraying her fear.

"He let us hit him to lure us into a false sense of security. He's hurt, but not so badly that he can't still fight. His plan was to get us into the woods from the beginning, because here he has an advantage. We can't follow his movements by sound, we can't see him in the dark, and we've got limited maneuverability because of all these stupid trees. But he's small enough to move around with ease. He's got us trapped in here. He can attack any time and we're totally vulnerable."

Michael and Amanda's eyes lit up.

"Freezedramon!" Michael called.

"I'm way ahead of you!" Freezedramon responded as he began to form a circle with his long, serpentine body.

"Everyone get down!" Amanda commanded. Everyone did as she said as Freezedramon made his move.

_"Ice Scales!"_

The attack went in all directions, felling the trees all around them.

"That should clear things up for us a little," Amanda said. "Watch for AeroVeedramon!"

They didn't have to wait long. As the treetops fell backwards, one of them was smashed to bits as AeroVeedramon punched it out of his way. He followed it up with an attack aimed at Freezedramon. _"V-Wing Blade!"_ With a slash of each of his wings, he sent a blade of energy. From Freezedramon's perspective, the two blades did actually look like a large "V" coming right at him. He dodged as best as he could, but the two blades put two enormous gashes in his side. AeroVeedramon was already taking aim at his opponents nearer the ground. _"V-Breath Arrow!"_

As he fired the blast from his mouth, Lilymon thought quick and raised her own weapon. _"Flower Cannon!"_

The two attacks collided in midair, sending out a shockwave that knocked the five humans off their feet and creating a bright flash that temporarily blinded everyone else. As Lilymon squinted through the light, she managed to barely get a glimpse of AeroVeedramon as he swooped down through the smoke still hanging in the air and punched her in the face.

Quemamon and Freezedramon went after him and Lilymon managed to shake off the sting of the last attack in time to join the fray. But try as all they might, not one of them could manage to land a punch or get their hands AeroVeedramon. The last of the Eight Gods was nimbly dodging, ducking, and weaving his way among them, so that he swooped in to punch Quemamon, dodged a flying kick by Lilymon and a crushing bite by Freezedramon, then back to counterattack the both of them one after the other as Quemamon tried to strike back.

"I can't believe he's fending all three of them off," Michael said.

"And doing a good job of it, too," Amanda sighed.

"This shouldn't be happening," Mimi said, shaking her head in disbelief. "We're all working together. There's no way we should be losing!"

"It's not that we aren't strong enough for fast enough," Jin told her, watching the fight carefully. "Watch his wings: every time he attacks, he swoops in to deliver the hardest hit, putting his whole body into the attack. He's using those wings to maneuver his way as fast as he can. His skill is the problem. He's probably not much stronger than Pandamon, but he's got a great technique."

Quemamon seized AeroVeedramon's wing, only to have AeroVeedramon whirl around and punch him in the neck.

"And he is a lot meaner," Ángel added, wincing.

After beating his opponents back, AeroVeedramon flew up and perched atop the tallest pine tree he could find. He brushed himself off, breathing a bit hard, but not as hard as his three opponents. "Not bad, but you should be glad there are three of you," AeroVeedramon laughed. "You should know your place, though, kiddies. You can't beat me, so you should just give up and die, make this easier on yourselves."

"We aren't done yet!" Quemamon shouted back.

AeroVeedramon threw his head back and laughed. "Don't be ridiculous. You don't have a prayer of beating me. Tell me, did Pandamon give you any trouble?"

"A bit," Quemamon said. "But I got him in a fair fight. According to him, I'm only one of two digimon that ever beat him."

"And who do you think the other one is?" AeroVeedramon asked. He grinned. "You know, I might as well tell you the whole thing:

"When I was a young digimon, a mere Rookie, I was surrounded by fierce warriors all around. The weakest of us faced annihilation by the strongest. I soon realized that this was the way of the world. I was weak; therefore I had no power over others. The mistake was that my tormentors left me alive. I learned from them, and sought strong opponents at my own level. I deliberately picked fights with opponents at the Champion level or higher. Through luck and what I had learned in earlier fights, I honed my skills and managed to defeat those opponents. But to be truly strong is to completely vanquish your opponent, with no part of them left to grow strong again. So, starting with those first opponents, I entered into each fight with one thought in mind: either they would not return from a fight, or _I_ wouldn't."

Everyone was stunned. "You mean…" Amanda gasped, "…that you killed every opponent you've ever faced?"

"A few exceptions. I let Pandamon live. When the Eight Gods were in need of two more members, they asked Pandamon who would only agree if he could be beaten. So, they asked me to join and I obliged them all. I joined them because they were the strongest in the land, upholding the true philosophy of the Digital World, and through our sieges, I perfected my killing techniques."

"How could you call hurting innocent people a philosophy?" Mimi demanded.

"Little girl, you understand nothing," AeroVeedramon sneered. "There is a simple principle to life: in order to benefit, someone else must suffer. I gained my strength and my digivolution by spilling the blood of others. The Eight Gods acquired their wealth by taking it from others. The town of Partition puts their fears and their sense of evil onto the Virus digimon, and they prosper at their expense. And the Ancient Enemy will herald in a new era in which the weak will be wiped out of existence. He is the strongest, and only those who stand with him will survive." He shook his head. "And even you Digidestined benefit by wiping out enemies. You learn to digivolve through battle, and preserve your worlds by the destruction of those who want it for themselves. Nobility, greed, and bloodlust are all meaningless, because, ultimately, we are all of the same religion. In the end, we are all part of the Cult of the Kill."

At that, he leapt into the air, ready to swoop down and finish off his enemies. "And now, it's time to end this!"

_"Breath of Decay!"_

The attack came out of nowhere and the green sludge spattered all over AeroVeedramon's hide. He flew back upwards, wiping the stinging liquid from his eyes. He looked back down and saw Raremon looking back up at him.

"What? Why you stinking—"

"Hey, this is a no-fly zone, horn-head!" a new voice called.

AeroVeedramon looked around and saw that a veritable cloud of Vilemon surrounded him. _"Nightmare Shock!"_ they attacked all at once.

As the wave of attacks sent AeroVeedramon reeling, the Digidestined and their digimon all stood in awe.

"Where did they come from?" Mimi asked.

"From the Virus Ghetto," a familiar voice said. They turned to see Psychemon walking up behind them. "After we got the fires put out, we all decided to come and give you a hand. Nonviolent resistance with the town is one thing, man, but—"

"—But this guy's getting no mercy from us," Black Gatomon said, walking up behind them.

AeroVeedramon wasn't looking for mercy so much as cover. To avoid the swarming Vilemon, he swooped downward. He attempted to slip through a gap between the trees when those trees were pushed aside by a pair of DarkTyranomon. _"Fire Blast!"_ they shouted, causing him to flutter backwards to avoid the flames. Already grouping behind him were several Bakemon who struck him in the back with a barrage of Dark Claw attacks. Deciding that the ground would not be the best place to be after all, he aimed for the sky, deciding to go as high as he could.

"Stop him!" Jin shouted, seeing him heading upwards. "He's too fast when he's in the air!"

AeroVeedramon's speed was obvious as he shot upwards, but, as he rose above the treetops, several long, pink objects shot out from the treetops to snare his legs and tail.

"What are those?" Amanda asked, cocking her head to one side.

"We godd hin, Pintheth Mimi!" That was when they noticed the many Gekomon who'd used their elastic tongues to bind AeroVeedramon.

"Let go, you little weaklings, or I swear I'll—"

"Hey, they're not the only ones doing favors for the cute one!" said another voice. AeroVeedramon looked to an adjacent tree and saw that nearly two dozen Numemon had slithered up to the top, sludge already in hands. His eyes narrowed.

"Oh, no! Don't you even think about—"

_"Party Time!"_

The Gekomon let go and ducked into their tree as sludge splattered the hapless Eighth God. Wiping it from his eyes, wrinkling his nose against the smell, he flew off blindly, now totally enraged. However, he was now moving much slower, now that he weighed down with all the goop.

"I won't let you interfere!" he shouted. "This is my fight! The Digidestined will be crushed by my hand!"

_"Crimson Claw!"_ screeched two voices in unison.

AeroVeedramon managed to open his eyes just in time to catch sight of the two Devidramon. To his horror, the pair slashed at his wings, tearing each one to shreds. He howled in pain as he fell like a stone, crashing through several more trees before coming to a stop. He stood haltingly, and looked up to see that all three of the Digidestined digimon had surrounded him.

"You should give up now," Michael told him.

"You're grounded now, and without those wings, you'll never move fast enough to beat us," Amanda said.

AeroVeedramon smiled. "I am a loyal servant of the true ruler of this world," he said. "And with his blessing, I will destroy you."

He rushed forward, leveling a Magnum Crusher attack at Lilymon. He apparently was not used to using his legs to rush enemies, because Lilymon dodged the attack easily, simply floating upwards as AeroVeedramon punched a tree instead.

_"Flower Cannon!"_

The shot hit AeroVeedramon square in the back, knocking the air from his lungs. Now that he was disoriented, Freezedramon saw his chance as well, and moved his huge body over AeroVeedramon, then rained down a storm of Ice Scales.

AeroVeedramon slumped to the ground, his flesh burned, cut, poisoned, and frozen from the various attacks he'd endured. He tried to pull himself up, but only managed to set his back against a tree. He looked exhausted and his wings were in tatters, one of his horns had been snapped off near its base, the blade protruding from his snout was warped and twisted, and his proud white "V" upon his chest was now dirty and swollen out of proportion.

Jin, Quemamon at his side, stepped forward. "Well, this is it," Jin said.

AeroVeedramon leapt forward, striking at Jin. Quemamon blocked his fist and then punched him the jaw, knocking out a few teeth as he fell back against the tree once again.

"Like I was saying, this is it," Jin continued.

"Meaning what?" AeroVeedramon asked bitterly.

"This whole situation has really gotten me thinking," he explained. "Yesterday, my friends were all doubting me, wondering if I should stay with them or go back home. I knew I wasn't the same person that they'd heard about. But I still thought that it might be a better idea if I went home. Take one for the team. I figured I would give everyone some peace of mind."

The others looked on somewhat guiltily. "Oh, Jin…" Mimi sighed, her heart really going out to the boy.

"But they didn't disappoint me," Jin went on. "They're still here, and I decided to stay, because my sacrifice wouldn't have meant anything. And if you take a look around here, you'll see how wrong you are, too."

AeroVeedramon did look around. It was then that he saw what Jin meant. All around them, all over the woods, were the citizens of the Virus Ghetto, their eyes hard and determined. They had put up with the slings and insults of the rest of Partition for so long, but they had come together now and worked together to defeat their common foe; namely, him. They were all there, and they covered each other, no one benefiting from the pain of another, not even willing to let the Digidestined fight the battle for them.

"You understand?"

AeroVeedramon nodded. "You managed to do it. Working together, you managed to become strong through each other, without anyone as a scapegoat or a sacrifice. You'd rather be crucified together than let even one of you take the pain for everyone else." He chuckled. "Not too bad."

"No, it really isn't too bad," Jin agreed. "That's why I'm giving you an option. I'm not this nice to everyone, not even Pandamon, and we almost liked him. If you give up now, tell us what you know, and promise never to return, we'll let you go."

"Um," Amanda interrupted, "are you sure that's such a good idea, Jin?"

"I'm trying out this mercy thing, just go with it," Jin said. "What do you say, AeroVeedramon?"

AeroVeedramon looked him right in the eye. "You've forgotten one thing, boy. You may think that you are not part of this cycle of violence, this system of bloodshed, but you've forgotten one thing: necessity. No one needed to die, thus far, but what will happen when only blood will bring peace?" He stood up, his legs shaking.

"Please don't," Ángel begged him. "You don't have to fight us!"

"Ah, but I do. This is my situation. I either succeed, or I die. Either by your hands or by the Dark One's. And now, you will understand the true nature of the universe, that it really is kill or be killed." He shot a glance at Amanda and summoned all his strength. _"V-Breath—"_

Amanda flinched and tried to duck as the others cried out in sudden terror, but Quemamon didn't even hesitate, and neither did Jin as he pointed at AeroVeedramon. Before AeroVeedramon could finish the attack, Quemamon had planted his fist in his stomach. And, at point-blank range, he shouted his attack: _"Plasma Column!"_

The plasma washed over AeroVeedramon and Quemamon could literally hear it searing his opponent, but just before his data finally shattered, he could have sworn that he heard AeroVeedramon laugh.

"That's the last of them," Amanda said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Quemamon."

"Don't mention it."

Jin scowled as he looked at the smoking spot where AeroVeedramon had stood seconds earlier. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Ángel.

"You think he was right?" Jin asked. "That no one benefits unless someone else suffers?"

"No," Ángel said. "But he was right about one thing. Sometimes, you cannot win unless something else is lost. Sometimes, there is no choice, and you have to decide. If Quemamon had not attacked, if we had not all _wanted_ him to attack," he looked back to Amanda, "then our friend would be dead."

Jin sighed. "I know. But this the first time I've ever felt bad about beating an enemy. What was the point of that? There might have been another way out for him."

"Jin, you have to understand—"

Ángel was interrupted as there was loud explosion heard. Everyone in the area, the Digidestined and the Virus digimon together, looked to see a ball of fire and several plumes of smoke rising over the trees.

"Where is that coming from?" Michael asked.

"From the Norton district?" Freezedramon wondered aloud.

"No," Black Gatomon said, narrowing her eyes. "That came from Partition. The main part of town."

* * *

The Digidestined and the citizens of the Virus Ghetto arrived to find a disturbing sight.

The town seemed totally vacant, and the dark road down the middle of the village was clear, but the buildings themselves looked totally wrecked. Windows and doors had been smashed in and a black, oozy substance seemed to be splattered on everything. Several buildings were on fire and the smell of smoke was thick in the air.

"What happened?" Psychemon asked, voicing the question everyone was asking themselves.

"I don't know," Quemamon answered. "But something terrible happened. That black stuff smells like blood. And I don't smell any digimon, either, but I do smell something very familiar."

"What?" Jin asked.

"Rotting flesh."

Mimi looked fearful at that reply, but then, she wasn't the only one. In fact, everyone felt very uneasy, and the silence of the place was more than a little bit creepy. As they all walked slowly up the main street, they listened for some sound of life. Soon, they really did hear something. It was a slow, rhythmic scraping sound.

"What is that sound?" Michael asked.

"I'd say," Jin replied, straining to hear, "that it's someone walking with a limp, dragging one foot in the dirt."

He turned out to be right, but nobody could figure out what the creature was once it appeared, walking out from between two houses.

The creature looked something like a human, but it was very tall, nearly eight feet tall. It had gray, shriveled flesh and sunken black eyes. It didn't speak, but moaned and grunted, as if repeating a death rattle over and over again. It wore ragged clothing and from several sores on its body it dripped black ooze. The same black ooze in fact, which had been splattered all over the town.

_"Díos mio… qué es eso?"_ Ángel breathed.

"I've never seen anything like it either," Jin said. Everyone kept very still, sensing something menacing about the creature other than its repulsive appearance.

Amanda had her pocket analyzer out as fast as she could and aimed it at the creature. "It says it's a… no way. That can't be right."

"What's wrong, Amanda?" Mimi asked.

"This stupid thing says that this thing is _Labramon."_ Everyone stared at the creature, then back at Amanda. "Let me adjust the scanning mechanism, do a more intensive analysis of its data signature… here we go! It's a…" she gawked at the entry. "It's a new digimon. There's no past history to draw on, so I'm only going on the data we've got. It's an undead Virus-type Champion digimon. No record on what it could have evolved from or anything. It says it's a… Zombiemon."

The creature turned when it heard its name, but then stumbled towards the crowd of them.

"You monster!" Black Gatomon cried, stepping out before it. "What have you done with the villagers?"

"Stay back, Kuro-chan!" Quemamon exclaimed, putting himself between Black Gatomon and Zombiemon. "Well?" he demanded. "Say something!"

Zombiemon was silent at first, but once it was close enough to Quemamon, it stopped. It said only two words in a dry, gurgling voice: _"Wither Claw!"_

With one awkward, but swift, movement of its hand, Zombiemon slashed Quemamon across the stomach. Quemamon stumbled back and watched as the glowing energy Zombiemon had ripped from his body slowly sank into his flesh. Zombiemon moaned, seemingly in pleasure, then continued to advance on them.

"You'll regret that!" Quemamon shouted, punching Zombiemon as hard as he could. Zombiemon tumbled head over heels, his brittle body snapping with each tumble, before coming to a stop, and then was deleted.

"What did it do?" Jin asked his partner, who clutched his stomach painfully.

"It's like it sucked part of my life away and then took it for itself," Quemamon answered. "It's… cold."

Everyone turned their attention to the sound to breaking glass as a second Zombiemon smashed through a window and gawked at them. It rested its lifeless gaze on a Gazimon and then opened its mouth. _"Feast of the Doomed!"_ it croaked.

A beam of sickly purple energy shot from its mouth and stabbed into the Gazimon. The Gazimon struggled to break free and begged for help as its own life force was drawn from it through the beam and into the Zombiemon. As the energy was drawn from it, the Gazimon's body began to grow thin and wiry until it was little more than skin and bones, it's face gaunt and all the flesh nearly gone.

_"Flower Cannon!" _Lilymon attacked, eradicating the Zombiemon before it was too late for the Gazimon.

Psychemon rushed over to the Gazimon. "Gazimon!" she cried. "Are you okay?"

"It was… it was terrible_…"_ he muttered, his eyes unfocused and staring.

"Just take it easy, dude," she ordered him. "It's over now."

"No," Quemamon said. "There's more. A lot more."

"Well, where are they?" Amanda asked. "Hey, come on out, you cowards!" she shouted.

She regretted it instantly, as seemingly every building around them seemed to explode outward, with a veritable horde of Zombiemon spilling out into the street. The crowd of them huddled together as the Zombiemon slowly approached, groaning hungrily.

"Well, we wanted to take back Partition," Black Gatomon sighed. "This is as good a way as any." She looked to her comrades, who nodded their assent. "Attack!" she screamed.

The whole town erupted with activity as every digimon turned on the Zombiemon. The five humans came together in a semi-circle at the center of the battle.

"This is horrible," Michael said. "What happened here?"

"I don't know," Jin said. "But there's no point in staying out of this. There are way too many of these digimon. If we just stand here, not even our partners can keep an eye on us."

"You have a better idea?" Amanda asked.

Jin reached into his pocket and pulled out his hunting knife. "If this works on rabbits and stuff, it ought to work on these freaks. Who's coming with me?"

Seeing how chaotic this battle was going to be due to the sheer number of Zombiemon, everyone was with him after only a moment's hesitation. Grabbing rubble and assorted debris from wrecked buildings, soon everyone was charging into the fray. Jin seemed to be the only one with experience fighting digimon hand-to-hand, of course, so he did most of the fighting with the others helping to distract the Zombiemon or support him if one looked like it was about to attack. Working together, the five of them managed to take out several Zombiemon before they happened upon a house that was burning and heard a call for help coming from inside.

"Does this house look familiar?" Michael asked.

"Wait a minute: that's Mr. X and Mr. Y's house!" Jin exclaimed. He raised his hands to his mouth and called to the old man in the attic. "Mr. X! It's me, the punk-kid you hate! Jump out the window and we'll catch you!"

There was no response from within.

"Maybe he'd rather not," Michael said.

"Or he's already dead," Amanda added.

"But maybe he cannot hear us over the flames," Ángel suggested.

"Only one way to find out," Jin said, running to the well and drawing a bucket of water. "I'll go in and toss his sorry butt out the window. You guys catch him." He poured the water over himself, hoping that would keep him from getting burned, then kicked in the door. Before anyone had a chance to stop him, he'd already rushed inside.

Inside, the flames were everywhere and the books lining the shelves gave off a tremendous amount of smoke. Staying low to the ground, Jin managed to get to the stairs and scramble up them. When he reached the top floor, he found that all the doors were open except the room to his study. Deciding that Mr. X must be in there, he tried to open the door, but found it was locked. With a cry of frustration, he rammed the door as hard as he could and it finally came open. Once inside, Mr. X hit him over the head with one of his thickest books.

"You?" Mr. X gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving you," Jin said, rubbing his head. "What are _you_ doing clobbering me over the head with a dictionary?"

"It's not a dictionary, it's—"

"I don't care!" Jin shouted.

"Some of those creatures came. They tried to break in, but I locked the door and hid myself, and I thought I'd use this book as a weapon in case they broke through."

"Well, they're gone now. Probably left you alone when they heard all of us outside. And they also must have knocked one of your lamps or candles over, since your house is on fire."

"On fire?" he cried. "I have to save those manuscripts!" He ran from the door, but Jin held him fast.

"Forget them, they're burned to a crisp by now. Let's just get you out of here."

"What?" Mr. X just stared at him. "With you? How?"

"Out the window. My friends are going to catch you, then me."

"So," Mr. X sighed. "I see they're sticking with you after all." Even as Jin moved to the window, X was backing away.

"This isn't the time to argue, damn it!" Jin shouted. "Do you want to live or not?"

Mr. X nodded. "I… I expected that my counterpart would come. Mr. Y you call him… Perhaps he is already dead…"

The floorboards creaked as Mr. X walked over to Jin at the window. One of the boards cracked and X stumbled, causing the boards to crack further. Jin reacted immediately and lunged forward, grabbing Mr. X's hand just as the floor caved in. Moments later, Jin was lying on the weakened floor, bracing himself with one hand, holding Mr. X with the other over the flaming remains of the first floor.

"I've got you!" Jin said, grunting to pull X upward.

"You'd better," Mr. X said. "If you let me fall, my death will be on your head."

"Save it, old man," Jin grunted, struggling as he pulled.

Mr. X brought his legs upward, as the flames licked at the cuffs of his pants, smoke billowing up into the room. "I know you, Jin," Mr. X said. "You'd rather drop me, save yourself, and tell everyone that you did everything you could. My death will be on your head, if you do, however. I want you to know that I know."

"Shut up!" Jin screamed, trying his hardest to get into a better position to pull the old man up. If he could get onto his feet, he was strong enough to lift Mr. X easily, but he still needed one hand to make it to his feet. With only one hand lifting the man, it was much harder, and he gritted his teeth.

"You are unintended, Jin."

"I said shut up!"

"You're no hero, no matter what you pretend, but go ahead and save me to spare yourself the guilt!"

"Damn it, I'm not doing this because I feel guilty!" Mr. X might have thought that the tears forming in Jin's eyes was the result of smoke stinging them, but Jin alone knew that the emotion was real. _"I'm not a monster, you horrible old man!"_ he shrieked.

He came to his feet and seized Mr. X's hand with both of his, ready to haul him upwards. But now the weight of both of them was on a smaller surface area, less distributed, and the flame-damaged floorboards began to snap beneath Jin's feet.

Jin stared at Mr. X to see if he knew. There was nothing but resentment on the old man's weary face, no matter how much he sought comprehension. If he held on, they'd both tumble into the flames below. If he let go, he could still escape, but that would mean letting Mr. X fall, letting that old man curse him with his final breath, and… and wouldn't that just be confirming what the old man said? He'd sacrifice Mr. X to save himself. Their eyes met and Mr. X's were filled with hatred.

The board cracked and Jin swallowed as he let go of Mr. X's hand, leaping backwards and dashing to the window. He didn't see Mr. X fall, but he heard the last angry shout of the man, which was cut short as he hit the floor below. There was only the sound of roaring flames and the creaking of the house as he opened the window and jumped into the waiting arms of his friends below.

"Jin?" Mimi asked. "Where's Mr. X?"

"He's… still in there," Jin told them. They all looked at the house, and Jin ran back towards the well, intending to make one last try, but the house creaked and cracks formed in the structure. Moments later, the whole house collapsed in on itself, a final burst of flame and smoke erupting as it crumpled.

"Oh… oh no…" Mimi cried, already falling to her knees as the tears came. "He..."

"Jin, what happened?" Ángel asked.

"I…" He swallowed. "I did all…" he tried to erase Mr. X's words from his mind so he could say what he had to. It was the truth, wasn't it? "I did all I c-c-cou—" He couldn't finish and, in one of the rarest displays they had seen yet, he fell to his knees and cried right alongside Mimi.

* * *

An hour later, all the Zombiemon had been eradicated, but many had been injured in the battle. Jin and Mimi were doing slightly better, but they and everyone else was certainly feeling the shock from the death of Mr. X. Now standing outside City Hall, where all the injured were taken as a makeshift hospital, they discussed what to do next.

"That was the last of the Eight Gods," Amanda said. "So that's one less thing to worry about."

"But we know what is next," Ángel said. "The Ancient Enemy."

"I suppose we all know that," Michael said.

"Yeah, but what a way to drag down the mood," Penguinmon remarked.

"I don't think the mood can get much lower," Betamon said, eyeing Jin.

"Look, Jin, it wasn't your fault," Scarmon sighed. "If Muchomon and I had gotten there, we could have helped, but that's not the way it happened. It's just a bad situation."

"I know, I know," Jin muttered. "But I have to wonder if there wasn't something else I could have done. I mean, maybe there was another way to beat AeroVeedramon. And maybe if I had just tackled Mr. X and thrown him out the window. Maybe part of me wanted him dead."

"I don't think any of us are going to miss him," Scarmon said, "but that doesn't mean you wanted him to die. And you definitely didn't kill him."

"Yes I did," he said bitterly. "I dropped him. I could have just fallen with him, dragged him from the fire. I just didn't want to get burned. I was selfish, and now he's dead."

Scarmon was getting desperate. "Jin, that's crazy, you wouldn't have survived—"

"Please, understand, Jin," Ángel told him. "We will discuss this. We will help you, but now we have to think about what to do next."

"Well, what should we do?" Mimi asked.

"Do you think we should stay for a few days to help repair Partition?" Palmon asked.

"I think the Virus digimon can do it on their own," Michael said.

"Besides," Ángel added, "we have something more important to do. We have to track down the Ancient Enemy."

"Oh," a strangely distant voice called, interrupting their discussion. "That... won't be necessary."

They all turned to see who it was coming upon them. No one was prepared for the sight before their eyes: it was Mr. Y.

"Mr. Y?" Jin asked. "I'm sorry, but—"

"My old master is dead… I know," Mr. Y said dreamily as he continued to approach them. Once he got closer, they saw that his eyes looked yellow and bleary, like fake glass eyes. Also, his face was ashen and his expression was one of a man in a stupor, as if he was not really awake.

"As I was saying… You don't need to… track the Ancient Enemy."

"Why not?" Jin asked uneasily.

"Because…" Mr. Y said, his head rolling lazily, "…he is inviting you… to meet him."

"Inviting us? What for?" Amanda demanded.

"He says… congratulations. He thinks you… fought well. If you wait until… 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon… I will come for you, no matter… where you are. And I… will take you to meet him."

"But you did not answer the question," Ángel said. "What for?"

"To _play."_ Mr. Y replied. "He says that… you might entertain him… but you might be destroyed… so you should have a day… one last day to enjoy, because… there won't be anymore."

Mr. Y stood there silently. "We could follow you to him now," Jin said.

"You are tired… you should rest first."

"What if we refuse to play along at all?" Michael asked.

Mr. Y looked almost as if he was going to laugh. "The Dark One... thought you might... say that. If you... refuse... he said he will... return... for the other half... of Partition."

They all gasped. That confirmed it... the Ancient Enemy had transformed half the town into those Zombiemon creatures. If they didn't meet him, then he would come back to destroy the rest of the digimon in the town.

"Why are you doing this?" Mimi asked. "Why weren't you with Mr. X? Why are you helping the bad guy?"

"He is… my new master. You see… he has put himself… inside me. My data… is no longer my own." Mr. Y turned away from them. They gawked in horror when they saw the back of his head. Most of the hair had been burned away, but a faintly glowing black X-shaped mark had been imprinted onto his skull. They all understood then that the Ancient Enemy had gotten to him, had crept into his mind and changed his very being, making him his slave. They felt helpless to do anything other than watch him walk slowly into the jungle, vanishing amid the darkness.

**To be continued…**

_(Next Chapter: The Digidestined confront the Ancient Enemy, but are they prepared to fight an enemy that powerful?)_

_P.S. Please leave a **review**! I always appreciate it!  
_


	18. The D Word, Part I

****_Author's Note: This chapter has been a lot of fun to right, but I kept having ideas and it kept getting bigger, so, rather than make my readers wait EVEN LONGER, I have decided to present this chapter in two parts. Enjoy, and know that the next chapter is coming soon!_

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen:**

**The "D" Word, Part 1**

* * *

In the middle of the Great Ocean, surrounded by treacherous currents and unpredictable weather, there was a small island. Its shape, when viewed from overhead, was nearly a perfect square. Viewing it from the ocean, it appeared to be a rocky, barren island devoid of any signs of plants or animals, but with a steep, rocky mountain with a flat top (properly a plateau) dominating all but the thin coastline. Very few outsiders had ever seen this island, and no digimon who had made it to this place understood its significance. And yet, somehow, this island was often told in legends. It was known as the Sovereign Court.

If one were to climb the steep, gray walls of the plateau, one would see that the walls housed something wondrous. The inside of the plateau was in fact hollow, forming a square crater. The inner walls were not gray stone, but cylindrical crystal, the color of jade. It ran in beautiful vertical lines along the sides and formed an absolutely perfect hexagonal pattern that continued into the floor of the wide, open area below. In the very center was a perfectly round platform, also made of crystal, its surface smooth and polished. Just outside this platform, standing just at its edge, were the only two outsiders to ever visit the Sovereign Court. They stood in awe of it.

"I have heard of this place, but never imagined I would stand here," Gennai said, staring at the massive arena-like crater around him. "I can scarcely believe we're standing here, Pixiemon."

"Even though we came here with the blessing of a Harmonious One, I too stand in awe!"

"The others are coming, my friends," said a booming voice, and they turned to the east to face the speaker, who was perched high atop the eastern wall of the arena. The cloudlike body of Azulongmon swirled in massive coils, as he stared down at them with solemn, but gentle eyes.

"Great Dragon of the East," Pixiemon said, bowing in honor, "we are not worthy of this holy place."

"Azulongmon, are you certain this is acceptable?" Gennai asked. "I know this is normally a meeting for the Four Harmonious Ones alone."

"The concerns we have both shared deserve to be heard, especially from two who have proven themselves worthy allies of the great Champions of the Digital World, the Digidestined."

A few moments later, a great sound, like the roar of a great storm or an erupting volcano was heard, followed by two more identical sounds. A rush of wind came upon them and they whirled around to see the new arrivals.

_"Amazing,"_ Pixiemon breathed.

There before them, atop each wall, were the other three Sovereigns. Atop the north wall was Ebonwumon, the great two-headed tortoise, with a massive tree sprouting from his back. The western wall was host to the huge, white tiger Baihumon, whose snow-white hide was lined with violet stripes and whose limbs were adorned with shining armor. The last was Zhuqiaomon, the phoenix of the South, whose flaming wings swirled and billowed with hypnotic fury.

"Brothers!" Azulongmon exclaimed. "It gladdens my heart to see you all here again."

"We feel the same," Ebonwumon replied, both heads speaking in unison. "Though the occasion is grave indeed."

Zhuqiaomon's booming voice was less friendly as he addressed the two visitors. "Gennai and Pixiemon… though Azulongmon sent word that you would be coming, make no mistake that this is highly unorthodox and you will show respect for the sacred place in which you now tread."

Baihumon's deep, rumbling voice could have been terrifying, but it actually comforted Gennai and Pixiemon as he chuckled good-naturedly. "Zhuqiaomon, you needn't worry," he said. "These two are among the few who truly grasp the forces at work in our world and they have proven their worth. I, for one, welcome what they have to say."

Gennai cleared his throat. "Great Sovereign, I am not worthy of the honor. I come today to—"

"A moment, Gennai," Azulongmon said, interrupting him. "Given what you have to say, we must wait for our brother to appear, for it concerns him and it would be unfair to speak of him when he is not around to defend himself."

"Unfair?" Pixiemon cried. "How can one speak of unfair when we're talking about—"

Pixiemon did not get a chance to finish that sentence as there was suddenly a sound like a deep, unearthly moan, and a small, swirling cloud of smoke, black as ebony, suddenly appeared not twenty feet from where the two of them stood in the center. Out of it stepped a figure, the same shape and nearly the same height as Gennai.

Gennai had steeled himself for whatever horrible creature he imagined the Ancient Enemy to take, but it still caught him off guard to see the humanoid form that now stood before him. It didn't help that all four sovereign made similar sounds of surprise upon seeing the creature who now stood before them, wearing his simple denim clothes, white cowboy hat and brown boots.

"Brothers!" Delgado cried, throwing his arms wide open in seemingly jovial greeting. "Holy cow, it's been too long! Good to see y'all again!" He then turned his head and saw Gennai and Pixiemon standing there. "Aw, and look, you even brought me some presents! Well, it's a bit early in the morning, but I could use a few warm-up murders, so…" He held up a hand, dark energy emanating from it, and stepped forward menacingly. Pixiemon gasped and flew up to place himself defensively in front of Gennai.

"Stay your hand, brother!" Azulongmon shouted, and Delgado stopped instantly. "These two are our guests and they come to speak at this session of the Sovereign Court."

Delgado's expression changed from a jovial grin to a cold, blank stare as he looked from one Sovereign to the next. "Ah. That's… brothers, for this particular ceremony, as I'm sure you're aware, we do not invite outsiders. Not once in the eons we have held it has there been anyone but the five of us."

"True," Ebonwumon said, "but it seems a great many things are different this time around."

"Why have you taken that form?" Zhuqiaomon demanded, cutting right to the point. "Your ability to change your shape is something we have come to expect, but you have always appeared as one of your fellow digimon. Why now do you appear as a human?"

Delgado cracked a knowing smile. "Oh, I have my reasons," he said.

"Then give us an answer!" Zhuqiaomon shouted.

"Oh Zhu-Zhu, you've got such a temper. I'd call you a hothead, but what can you expect with flames coming out of it?" He laughed at his own joke and the other four looked to each other uneasily.

"Brother," Baihumon said carefully, "you are so different now. Your manner of speaking and your demeanor… you were always quiet, reserved, and you spoke to us with respect."

"Well, maybe I'm just in a good mood and feel like having a few laughs with my brothers," Delgado replied. "Can you blame me? I only ever get to see you once every few generations, give or take a century here and there. And this is special since, well, I get the feeling it'll be our _last_ meeting."

Azulongmon scoffed. "So confident, brother?"

"Oh _very_," Delgado said. "And I guess I owe part of my new look and attitude to the amount of time I've spent in the Human World. I am, as you know, the product of what lies in the hearts of all digimon, and now I am also the product of what lies in the hearts of all humans. The things I've taken in, the things I've seen and done traveling over the face of two worlds… it's made me the 'man' I am today."

"Great Sovereigns," Gennai said, drawing a sharp look from Delgado, "this is what I wanted to talk about. Please, may we be heard?"

Ebonwumon, standing at the North, seemed to be the official moderator for the gathering, for all eyes turned to him. He nodded with both of his heads. Delgado rolled his eyes and motioned for Gennai and Pixiemon to stand in the central circle. "Go ahead, bitman. Step onto the dais and speak your peace." He added, in a whisper, _"And see how far it gets you."_

Gennai stepped onto the dais and took a deep breath. "Great Sovereign, Lords of the Digital World, Pixiemon and I have come to ask you to forestall this coming battle. This being," here he gestured to Delgado, "the Ancient Enemy, is meant to be the judgment of the Digital World. When your father, the holy and ancient Goddramon created him, it was his intent to test his creations, the digimon. But now he takes power from the humans and presumes to destroy _both_ worlds! This was not what the Creator intended! I beg of you, please stop this battle before it begins!"

"It is not only that," Pixiemon said, speaking up. "He takes the lives of humans, he gathers forces like a conqueror, building himself up as a deity who rules through fear and superstition, and he has even blanketed our world with his own dark energy, preventing the Digidestined from entering. Only the five humans and digimon who have been chosen to fight have been allowed. And you yourselves have seen the way the Ancient Enemy acts. He has been corrupted by his time in the human world. He has grown too powerful, too _depraved_, and he moves too quickly. I have heard tales from the continent of Folder, and the five bearers of Noble Virtue are not ready!"

Delgado chuckled behind them, crossing his arms and looking at them with amusement.

"You have brought up many good points," Ebonwumon said, "but I believe you have misunderstood what our role is in this situation. We, as the Four Harmonious Ones, are tasked with maintaining harmony of the energies and forces in this world, and we do make standing decisions about the proper course of action to protect our future…"

"…but that does not include power over our brother, the Dark One," Azulongmon finished. "My friends, we can discuss this point and ask him to stay his hand, but no one understands his holy task better than the Ancient Enemy himself. Therefore, only he can choose to fight or withdraw."

Gennai and Pixiemon looked to Delgado in horror as his grin widened. "I told you," he said smugly.

"Brother," Baihumon said, "will you take your place in the center and allow us to discuss these charges?"

"Of course," Delgado said, bowing slightly. Gennai and Pixiemon stepped down as Delgado took his place on the dais.

Azulongmon began. "What say you, brother, to the charge that you were not meant to stand in judgment of the evils of humanity?"

"That's nonsense. And even if it wasn't, it's a moot point, really."

"What?" Zhuqiaomon exclaimed. "How can you say that? Such a thing is far too important to merely be 'a moot point!'"

"Well, first of all, I believe that if I wasn't intended to be divine punishment for_ all_ wickedness, I wouldn't be able to take my power from the humans in the first place. And yet I can, and it has made me far stronger and in far less time than ever before. Truly, brothers, if you understood the evils the humans were capable of, you would not question my role in bringing about their ruin."

"Are they truly so evil?" Ebonwumon asked.

"Hey, I'm living proof!" Delgado said. "And the fact that the five Noble Virtues have been inherited by humans is all the evidence I need to show that this battle concerns both digimon _and_ humans. And there's a simple reason why I call it a 'moot point,' Zhuqiaomon.

"As we all know, the Digital World and the Human World are now linked. The Digidestined are representative of that link. The energy from the Human World's digital networks is what maintains our world. Without the Human World, our own world would fall to absolute ruin. But, in turn, the harmony of the Digital World has a direct effect on the Human World. When Apocalymon and the Dark Masters appeared, their presence weakened the barrier between the two worlds and caused disastrous weather and other events in the Human World. So, if you tell me that I must disregard the humans and only focus on destroying all digimon, then I tell you that it cannot be done. If the Digital World were to be completely destroyed, the feedback upon the Human World would surely destroy it as well. Our fate, dear brothers, is linked with that of the humans. Let both worlds stand before me in the form of the Digidestined and their partners. Holy Goddramon has commanded me to destroy all that exists, and he did not give me any exceptions, so I will not stay my hand, and I will spare _no one_."

The Four Sovereign looked to each other, seemingly lost before this line of thought. Gennai looked up to Azulongmon with pleading eyes. The great blue dragon nodded to him and made one final plea.

"Brother," Azulongmon said, "you have made a valid point. Yet still, from what we hear, the Digidestined partners have only reached their Ultimate forms. We sense your power and can see it is far, far greater than what the Digidestined possess. And they have not yet grasped their Virtues. How, then, can this be the correct time for the battle? Might you not give them time to come into their own and face you on equal ground?"

Delgado laughed out loud, the derision in his voice obvious. "The unwritten rules Goddramon gave me are absolute. He declared that I must send hardships their way to test them, and that I must wait until they have reached their full power before I face them, and so I have done. The time is now. I can sense what lies in all their hearts, and they have become as strong as they ever will be. But even if I am mistaken," and here he gave a sneer to Azulongmon, "then maybe you ought to have a little faith in your champions. If I am to be defeated again in this generation, then surely those brave warriors will rise to the occasion." He chuckled again at that. "But let's be honest, we all know they don't have what it takes. Those ridiculous children are weaklings, and their digimon represent that."

"The Digidestined have more power than you know!" Pixiemon shouted.

"Oh?" Delgado said. And here his form shifted to a familiar form. He now looked like Mimi Tachikawa. "Let's not kid ourselves, shall we?" he said in Mimi's voice before shifting form again, this time to Michael. "I know everything about them." Here he shifted to Jin. "Their faults," he said, shifting to Amanda, "their fears," and finally to Ángel, "and their weaknesses." He shifted back to his familiar form, and his expression now took on a cold, murderous look. "I have called them to meet me. At 3 o'clock on the Continent of Folder, my servant will lead them to the battleground I have chosen, and we will fight and then, Guardian and Messenger, they will die. And once they die, the fate of this world will be sealed. I suggest you prepare yourselves for the end, because it is truly and totally _inevitable."_

The Four Sovereign digimon all looked to each other a final time. None of them could think of anything else to say.

"We've wasted enough time on this, brothers," Delgado said. "Give me now your blessing and let us fulfill our Creator's Commandment."

Gennai and Pixiemon stood and watched in horror as all four of them closed their eyes and began to recite a prayer in unison:

"_O, Great and most holy Goddramon, whose spirit enriches all digimon_

_We, your humble servants begin anew your trial of worthiness._

_Let the Five Bearers of Virtue come forth_

_Let them show their full power_

_And may they clash with the Great Nemesis who is made of the darkness of all hearts._

_We bow to your will and know that, though you are gone,_

_Your will shall be done now, as it was in the past, as it shall be forever and ever."_

As the prayer ended, Delgado raised his arms, palms stretched to the sky, and a great, roaring column of dark energy rocketed from his body, stretching all the way up to the clouds. Gennai and Pixiemon felt the wind as it was whipped up by the massive amount of energy emanating from Delgado and when he turned his head to look back at them, the look coming from his glowing, blood red eyes chilled them down to their very souls.

* * *

Ángel was awake, but he kept his eyes closed, enjoying the sounds of morning birdsong all around him. The events of the previous evening were still fresh in his mind, and at first he thought that it would be impossible to get any sleep. However, he actually fell asleep immediately and felt so comfortable in his sleeping bag that he didn't want to move unless anyone woke him up on purpose.

Still, the terrible events of last night began to replay… the Zombiemon rampaging through the town of Partition, the defeat of AeroVeedramon, Mr. X's death, and finally Mr. Y coming to tell them that the Ancient Enemy was coming to face them. Scarmon had talked to BlackGatomon, and the group of them all agreed that staying in Partition would be a terrible idea, for if the Ancient Enemy attacked them while they were in town, he probably wouldn't care who got in his way. And if Mr. Y returned to lead them somewhere, they didn't want to involve the former residents of the Virus Ghetto in any more hardship. After seeing half their town destroyed and their former neighbors turned into hideous undead monsters, they had been through enough. And so, the Digidestined packed up their things, said a few goodbyes, and set up camp in the forest a few kilometers outside of town.

Now, the more he thought about it, the more he felt uncomfortable sleeping the morning away. This was a day that would decide the fate of the world, after all, and here he was wasting time snoozing! He opened his eyes…

Amanda was sitting next to his sleeping bag, just watching him with a tranquil smile on her face.

"A-Amanda?" he asked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just watching you, cutie," she replied, smiling sweetly, resting her face in her hands. "You looked really peaceful sleeping like that and I just wanted to watch you for a little while."

"Oh… really?" he said, trying not to blush.

"Well, until a second ago," she continued. "Just now you started scrunching up your face and looking all stressed out." A thought crossed her mind and her expression changed to one of concern. "Did you have another nightmare?"

He laughed and smiled at her reassuringly. "No, I slept very well. I guess we were all very tired after last night. But I suppose I was thinking of some of the bad things from last night and they woke me up."

"Well," she said, trying to sound sly, "i-if you're a good boy and close your eyes, I… I'll wake you up in a much better way."

He thought a moment before he realized what she meant. "Oh, well… if you say so," he said, and put his head back on his pillow and closed his eyes as he went back to "sleep." He waited for a second in anticipation when a thought crossed his mind and his eyes popped back open. "Wait a minute, Amanda…"

He stopped and had to stop himself from laughing as she froze in a position where she was leaning forwards, her lips puckered out awkwardly to where she looked vaguely fishlike. "What—haha—what are you doing awake?"

"Oh, uh," she said, looking guilty. "It's my shift to stand guard anyway, so I was already awake."

"But instead of keeping watch," he said, looking at her sternly, "you're watching me sleep?"

"Relax," she whispered, hoping the others would stay asleep a bit longer. "I left Penguinmon standing guard while I came to visit you."

Ángel looked at her reproachfully and pointed over to where Penguinmon was standing guard.

Or rather, where Penguinmon was sitting on a tree stump, his head nodding as he dozed.

"Oh darn it, Penguinmon!" she cried. She picked up a small pebble and threw it at him. It connected and he woke up, wide-eyed and sputtering.

"We're under attack!" he squawked, clearly startled and unaware of what just hit him. _"We're under attack!"_

"Penguinmon, shush—!"

"Wha?" Jin exclaimed jumping out of his sleeping bag as the whole camp awoke. "Attack? Where?" he grabbed a stick and ran forward wildly. "Everyone get up! We've got to—" he was interrupted as he tripped over a rock and stumbled forward, smacking his face into a nearby tree. This was immediately followed up by Mimi's laughter, which was then followed up by everyone else's.

Amanda sighed while Jin rubbed his sore nose and read a groggy Penguinmon the riot act. The whole camp was awake and it looked like her dream of a reverse-gender "Sleeping Beauty" wasn't going to happen.

* * *

**The previous evening…**

"Kuro-chan… I'm sorry this happened," Scarmon said.

BlackGatomon sighed, but offered a comforting smile. "So am I, but maybe this is the new beginning we Virus digimon were hoping for."

"If we never came here, maybe this wouldn't have happened."

"Possibly," she said, "but the truth is that this town has been on edge for a long time now. If you and your friends hadn't come, then who knows what would have happened? You didn't turn the others into those… things."

Scarmon made a face. He'd been all over the Digital World and seen all sorts of vile and horrible things, but there was something about the Zombiemon specifically that made his flesh crawl. Perhaps it was the way they mindlessly attacked, blindly and directly attempting to drain the life from their victims. Or, more likely, it was the fact that they used to be other digimon. He was no bleeding heart, but when something was dead, it ought to either stay dead or be reborn. To wander around, no longer alive, but not dead either… that sounded far worse to him than simply being deleted.

"We have to get moving," Scarmon said. "Jin and the others all think that this is our fight."

"I don't know why you won't let us help you," BlackGatomon said. "You're being so stubborn."

"Listen, Kuro," he explained, "aside from Jin and lately these other guys, I don't really get along with too many other people. Digimon or human. You and the rest of the Virus types here made me feel at home. We're the Digidestined, and we should be protecting you. If anyone else got deleted fighting this guy, whoever he is…"

BlackGatomon raised her paw, stopping him as she nodded silently. "Okay," she said. "I get it. I guess there's no stopping you, Mr. Hero. We'll tell the others tomorrow, after you've gone. I'm sure they'll understand."

Scarmon offered her a toothy grin. "Hey, once we take down this red-eyed boogiemon, maybe I can come back. Help you rebuild? Or, you know… just stop by to see you?"

She gave him a mischievous glance. "Maybe. We'll just have to see."

The two of them walked back to the little hotel where the others had gathered. Psychemon was talking to the larger group, but Scarmon had wanted to tell BlackGatomon himself that they were leaving.

"Hey, I know you're bummed about leaving us right after all this," Psychemon was saying, "but, like, it's gonna be cool before you know it. We'll get this place rebuilt, we'll move back into our old houses, and we'll make New Partition a way groovier place to call home. Thanks a bunch for your help in the meantime. It was a real trip meeting all of you, especially a pair of famous DDs like Mimi and Palmon!"

Mimi laughed, still somewhat embarrassed by the hero worship. "It was wonderful meeting you too, Psychemon," she told her.

"Yeah, and besides," Palmon added, "you got to be our hero as well, right guys?"

Michael and Betamon looked to each other and nodded. "You were a great lawyer," Michael said.

"Yeah! Jin, Scarmon, Michael, and I really owe you!" Betamon added.

"Hey, don't sweat it," Psychemon said, waving her hand dismissively. "I'll send you dudes the bill after you save the world." They all looked to each other nervously before Psychemon started laughing. "Ha! I _totally_ got you!"

BlackGatomon lightly smacked her upside the head. "Don't tease them, Psychemon, they've already had a rough day."

"Aw, don't be a drag, roomie," she said, still chuckling. "I'm just trying to lighten the mood, ya dig?"

"I can dig it!" Amanda said, holding up one hand in a peace sign.

"You are such a dork," Jin muttered.

"Oh leave her alone," Ángel laughed, earning a smile from the girl.

"Just be careful out there," BlackGatomon said. "We're all rooting for you, and know that you'll always be welcome here."

* * *

The pained but friendly parting from Partition and the kind words of BlackGatomon and Psychemon were still firmly in all their minds that morning. Which was all the more reason why what Jin had to say at the meeting after breakfast was so shocking:

"I know this is going to sound bad," he said, "but maybe we should consider running away from this fight and saving our own skin."

"What?" Michael cried. "How can you say that?"

"What about Partition?" Mimi exclaimed. "Mr. Y said that… if we try to run…"

"I know, but—"

"What the heck is wrong with you, Jin!" Scarmon growled, shocking everyone by snarling at his own partner. "After we told Kuro-chan to stay behind and that we'd protect her and her friends, we're not gonna just turn around and run! Since when have we ever run from a fight, anyway?"

"Will you all just shut up a second and listen!" Jin shouted, and the chorus of protests went silent. "I know what we said. And I feel like a real coward for saying something like that, but let's think about this fight strategically. We beat all of the Eight Gods one-by-one, right?"

They all nodded.

"But we had a lot of trouble beating several of them, especially Pandamon and AeroVeedramon. We figured out that 'harmonizing' trick where we sync our thoughts with our digimon and our DNA-digivolving partners and they start glowing, and that's how Quemamon beat Pandamon. But even using that, we needed help from some of the Virus digimon from the ghetto to beat AeroVeedramon. Three Ultimate-level digimon and we couldn't take down just one without help."

"Well, to be fair," Amanda said, cutting in, "he did use a good strategy to make it harder. He used the forest as cover. Once we got beyond that, he didn't have many tricks left!"

"Yeah, I get that," Jin acknowledged. "But think about what Pandamon said: the Ancient Enemy defeated him and all the Eight Gods _at the same time_. Apparently it was pretty easy, too." The others looked a bit uncomfortable at that, realizing the point he was making. All except for Ángel, who sat perfectly still, silent and stone-faced as a statue. Jin didn't notice this, however, and continued with his point. "So, let's face the facts. We had a lot of trouble beating them one at a time, but we're going into battle with a monster who beat all eight of them at once_._ He's supposed to be this ancient, all-powerful creature, and all we've got to go into battle is three Ultimate-level digimon. Not even one Mega. That's not just a bad idea, that's _suicidal."_

"But what about when we fought Volcanomon?" Betamon asked, speaking up. "We beat him using only our Champion forms!"

"That's right!" Palmon said, brightening up. "And we beat Junkmon without digivolving at all!"

"I agree," Muchomon said. "If we use our heads, we digimon will be able to protect you all!"

Jin smirked at that, looking amused, but not remotely convinced. "That's a nice thing to believe, and I really do trust you guys, _all_ of you guys, to protect us," and here he pat a not-completely-consoled Scarmon, "but that's not all that's at stake here. We're the only ones who can stop this thing. Whatever the Ancient Enemy is, we only know it from our nightmares. If this thing can destroy both of our worlds, we better make sure we can stop it." He looked pained now, enough that he had to stop.

"Jin?" Mimi asked, worried at his sudden shift in tone. "What's wrong?"

"I… I know it wasn't really my fault that Mr. X died," he said.

"Oh, Jin…"

"Let me finish. I know that I did everything I could, but if I had been a little bit stronger, I could have saved that old man. Maybe then he'd have finally cut me some slack," he said, chuckling ruefully. "But we have the same problem now. If we want to save both worlds, we need to be strong enough to do it. And maybe our best chance is to run for now, find a way to get stronger, to digivolve further, then face the Ancient Enemy when we're ready."

"But what about the digimon in Partition?" Michael asked. "We can't just let them be destroyed!" This was met with several other voices raised loudly in agreement.

"Hey, hey, I didn't say we just leave them!" Jin snapped. "We should warn them that the Ancient Enemy is coming, tell them to evacuate for now, go on the run so he won't be able to go after them all at once, and tell them that they can return to their homes once we beat him once and for all!"

This plan didn't exactly sit well with the others, but slowly they began to see that it did make sense.

"Maybe Jin's right," Amanda said. "That plan makes the most sense from a strategic point of view. I mean, in an RPG, you level up to get stronger before a Final Boss fight—"

"Amanda," Penguinmon said, poking her, "skip the geeky analogy."

"Right, right, sorry," she said. "Well, I hate to think about those poor digimon losing their homes after all they went through, but," and here she looked down at Penguinmon at her side, and put her arm around him, "not as much as I hate the idea of losing our partners in the fight."

Each human and digimon pair exchanged glances.

"Well," Mimi said, looking sad, "I guess we need to go back to Partition and warn them."

"No."

All eyes turned to face Ángel, who had just now spoken so sternly and clearly that they could hardly believe it was his voice.

"No," he repeated. "We cannot run away."

"We're not running away," Michael said. "I know it feels that way, and I sympathize, but—"

"It _is_ running away," Ángel insisted. "And it will not work."

Jin made a face. "Care to explain why not?"

"It is simple," he explained. "The Ancient Enemy can travel anywhere, find us no matter where we go. And he will find the digimon from Partition too. He will kill them before they can get far away and then he will come for us. We cannot avoid this fight. And even if we do, this is not like Amanda said; it is not a video game."

"I didn't mean—"

"It is more like a _fútbol_ game. There are two teams: ours, and _his._ If we do not show up for the match, then it is over… we forfeit." He spoke the next words with cold, absolute certainty. "And if we forfeit this game, then all is lost. It will be the end of the world."

"You don't know that!" Jin yelled, standing up angrily.

"I do," Ángel said, staying calm. "I know you all don't understand everything about my ability… I do not really understand it either, sometimes. But I can sense this: we must fight this battle, or he will come for us."

All of them, digimon included, looked at each other with unease. Jin sat back down, rubbing his forehead tiredly.

"But don't worry," Ángel said with a smile, closing his eyes serenely. "I know that it sounds difficult. What Jin said is true, but I know we will find a way to defeat the Ancient Enemy. It is no mistake that we all came together. It was supposed to happen. We are on a **divine** mission. I believe we were sent here by God."

He opened his eyes, expecting them to all look inspired, but was surprised to see several uncomfortable looks on their faces.

"What?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"Well, it's just…" Michael began, "it's just… you're saying _God_ chose us? Wow, I'm not sure how to take that idea."

"I guess I can believe that," Mimi said, looking deep in thought. "But Michael's right. I never thought of this adventure like that."

"But Mimi, you and the others were chosen by the spirits of the Digital World!" he cried. "That is not something common. And our prophetic dreams of the Ancient Enemy and of each other… that proves we are here to be the servants of something greater than ourselves!"

Jin gave a small, somewhat scornful laugh. "You know, the last time I thought I had an idea of a 'divine' purpose, that there was something I was 'supposed' to do," he said, looking at Ángel, "I ended up as that murderous monster that Mr. X told you about. If you want to believe that this is something God chose us to do, then that's fine. But I'm here for my own reasons."

Ángel looked down for a moment, then nodded. He supposed it was a bit difficult for them to think of their quest in the same way he had always thought of it. They were not ready for such weighty expectations. He turned to Amanda then, but noticed that she refused to look him in the eye.

"Amanda?" he asked. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, sure… it's fine," she said, though she was squirming under his gaze.

He stared at her for a moment longer and then, without meaning to, he suddenly felt her thoughts as they drifted into her mind: _"How can I tell him? What will he say if I tell him that I don't—"_

"Amanda! You… don't believe in God?" he gasped.

She looked up at him in horror. _"You jerk!"_ she shrieked. "You read my mind again, didn't you! I was trying to think about how to tell you!" She stood up, her eyes already starting to tear up. "I— I wasn't ready to say that, how could you just—"

"No, wait, please!" he yelled. "I didn't mean to, it was an accident, the thought was just too strong and… but, still, how can… someone like you… you're supposed to be…"

The two of them both stared at each other, neither one sure what to say. Meanwhile the others just sat there, watching in uncomfortable silence.

"Psst, Palmon," Scarmon hissed, "is this what those soap opera things you talked about were like?"

"Scarmon, shut up," Jin snapped.

"Well," Palmon said, "they actually are like this."

"Palmon, you be quiet too," Mimi said, looking at the two youngest humans of the group sadly.

Michael stood up, deciding to take charge of the situation. "Hey, hey, both of you," he said, "let's not worry about why we're here, let's just think about what we should do next!" Amanda and Ángel both calmed themselves, though they both still looked upset, and sat down. Neither one looked at each other as their digimon partners huddled in more closely to them.

Jin sighed. "Okay, Michael's right: we need to focus on what to do now," he said. "And while I don't want to talk religion or any other metaphysical crap about spirits, purposes, and destinies, I do think we should take Ángel seriously. He led us to this continent, he's known about this whole business way before we did, even expected us to come before any of us had even met each other." He smiled at his DNA-digivolving partner appreciatively. "So if he says that this is how it has to be, then I think we should listen and make the best of it. Any objections?"

None of them did. In fact, the mood seemed to lighten just a little bit, though Amanda and Ángel still looked uncomfortable.

"What should we do now, then?" Mimi asked. "We still have all day before Mr. Y said he would come."

"Maybe we could have you pick out some clothes for our final battle," Palmon said jokingly. "We could save the world in style!"

Mimi blinked a few times and smiled. "Ooh, can we? Because we could look really cool if—"

"She was joking, Mimi," Michael said, trying not to laugh.

"Awww…"

"Oh boy," Jin said, rolling his eyes. "No, Mimi, I think we should do some training. It's obvious that we fight better when we're all in sync, so let's work with our digimon to see if we can get a strategy going. We'll figure out what we will focus on, practice our attacks, think of strategies, whatever we can to make sure we're prepared. We'll practice for a few hours this morning, break for lunch, train a little more, then take an hour or so to rest up before 3 o'clock."

"Then I guess we should start, Mimi!" Palmon exclaimed. "We're usually in sync anyway, so we should be ready in no time!"

"I'm game!" Mimi said.

"Ángel, let's let Mimi and Palmon take this part of camp," Jin said. "We'll find a spot to train to the East with Scarmon and Muchomon."

Michael stood and walked over to Amanda. "I guess that leaves us, partner," he said, trying to sound encouraging. "Let's go to the West and work with our digimon."

Amanda said nothing, but picked up Penguinmon and began walking alongside Michael and Betamon. She stole a glance over her shoulder and caught Ángel looking back at her as he went with Jin. For a moment, both of their gazes, full of mistrust and uncertainty, locked with one another. Then, as they entered the woods, they looked forward as they left the others behind.

* * *

Quite a bit further away, just off the coast of the continent of Server, a long ferry boat was making its way over the ocean. It was making good time and the word among the passengers was that they would make their port soon. Looking out over the water, noticing the gray, overcast sky, one of those passengers felt more uneasy than he would have expected. He was traveling across the ocean to get away from his old life, to seek out a new way of doing things, and to put some distance between anyone back on Folder who might recognize him. Especially the Digidestined.

Pandamon smiled at the thought. _What wondrous spirit, what raw power they possess!_ he thought. _I have never experienced such a dynamic battle in all my years of fighting. If there is one good thing that came out of my time serving with the Eight Gods and even doing the Ancient Enemy's bidding, it is that I had the chance to go up against such unique opponents. Still, I worry for them… the Ancient Enemy possesses such terrible strength. If they cannot muster greater power, then…_

"Can't believe it," a voice was saying, drawing him out of his thoughts. "It's the only way, though. No turning back now."

Pandamon turned and looked. Leaning on the high rail was a green, reptilian digimon with a long, thick tail and a narrow snout. He was the same height as his own and his attire – a vest and shorts – were dirty and smudged. He felt a strange energy coming from this digimon's aura, but it seemed familiar. Having nothing better to do, he decided to strike up a conversation.

"Greetings, fellow traveler," Pandamon said. The stranger turned and Pandamon saw that one of his eyes was injured and bandaged roughly with a white cloth. "I am Pandamon. And you?"

The stranger looked at him, somewhat mistrustfully for a moment, but then finally said, "Crocmon," and offered his scaly hand in greeting.

Pandamon shook it and said, "What is your reason for traveling, my friend?"

"Long story," Crocmon replied.

"I understand. I suppose those of us taking this ferry from Folder under cover of night and heading to such a run-down port must all have our secrets. I won't press you for details."

"Thanks for understanding."

The two of them were silent for a few more moments as they stared out at the water, when Crocmon stole another glance over at Pandamon. "Wait… I think I did hear about you. Weren't you with the Eight Gods?"

"I was," Pandamon replied, deciding not to conceal the fact. "I battled with the Digidestined. It was a good battle, fought on my own terms, but I lost. I suppose they think me deleted, and with luck that is what my… former employer will think as well."

Crocmon had a suspicion that he knew who that employer was and suddenly the mark that Delgado had burned into his chest began to ache and throb.

"I couldn't help overhearing you earlier," Pandamon said. "You seem troubled with your current course of action. Forgive me for prying, but perhaps I could lend an ear?"

Crocmon clutched his chest as the pain increased, but he took some deep breaths and, when the pain began to subside, he decided to speak.

"I've been fighting an enemy," he said. "My archnemesis. Someone who hurt me, stole from me, and left me for dead. He's also the one who cost me my eye."

"He sounds like a cruel villain indeed," Pandamon said, not realizing whom Crocmon was speaking of.

"I made a deal with someone who can help me finally get revenge," Crocmon continued, "but now I'm starting to wonder if – hrk!" his chest began to ache again, this time with a much sharper pain. "Well," he said, speaking through the pain. "It doesn't matter. I made my choice and I know I'll get my revenge. As long as I can do that, then nothing else matters."

Pandamon said nothing for a moment, but shut his eyes in contemplation. "To repay one who dishonored you can be a noble thing, my friend," Pandamon said. "But beware of anything which totally **dominates** your life. Revenge and even honor can turn you into something ugly if you are not careful."

Crocmon said nothing, but Pandamon began to notice the sweat pouring off of him and his labored breathing. Still, he went on. "I recently put my old life behind me. But for a long time, I lived that life only because I haughtily boasted that I would serve whoever defeated me, only to throw away my freedom when that finally happened. I will never be another's servant again as long as I live, but it never would have happened had I not held the honor of my words over my own actions. I should have left a long time ago, but my warrior's pride would not let me. Obsession makes slaves of us all. You might do well to remember that."

Crocmon groaned. "I'll… take that under… consideration…"

Pandamon nodded. "I can see you are not well. You should go below deck and rest. We will dock soon. Would you like some fresh water?"

Crocmon shook his head.

"Very well. Please take care of yourself." And with that, Pandamon walked away, deciding to find a quiet spot on the ship to meditate.

Once Pandamon had gone, the mark began to hurt less and less. In very little time, the pain was completely gone.

Crocmon looked to the stern of the ship. In the distance, the coast was coming into view. _Scarmon, _he thought bitterly._ I don't care what anyone else says. I don't even care if I'm working with a real monster now. I hate you so much that I'd sell my soul just to make sure you suffer for what you've done. And, I suppose, that's just what I did. I'll travel to Full Metal City and serve the Ancient Enemy, but I will live and you, you evil black demon, you will die a horrible, painful death._

* * *

"Okay, Scarmon, Muchomon," Jin said, "let's digivolve and get this training session started!"

"You got it, Jin!" Scarmon exclaimed. In a few more moments, the small black lizard and the red bird were gone, and in their place stood Quemamon, his green plasma flames flaring in anticipation.

"All right, looking good," Jin said, nodding approvingly. "Now, you know how to fight, and it's pretty clear that you've got your moves down, so let's focus on getting harmonized, then we'll run through some battle strategies and stuff like that. But don't overdo it; we've got a big fight today, so don't wear yourself out, Quemamon."

"Sounds good," Quemamon replied.

"Okay, any ideas for how we should harmonize, Ángel?" Jin asked. However, when he turned to look at his partner, the boy seemed distracted, lost in his own thoughts. Jin frowned and tapped him on the shoulder. "Ángel! Focus!"

"Huh? Oh, I… I'm sorry, yes, we should focus on the same thing."

"Right. Listen, I'm not big on the whole touchy-feely thing," he said, making a face, "so can we focus on taking down the Ancient Enemy and winning this fight?"

"I like the sound of that!" Quemamon said, cracking his knuckles. "After what he did to Partition and sending the Eight Gods after us, I'd love to pay him back!"

"Now we're talking!" Jin smiled confidently and he felt more in his own element now that they were turning to the fight. If there was one thing he was good at, it was fighting. He looked over to Ángel to see if he agreed. The younger boy nodded.

"Yes, we have to win this fight," he said. "You are right, we… we should focus on finishing our mission so we can return to our homes."

"Great. Everyone, close your eyes, let's focus on that, and see if we can get you to start glowing, Quemamon. That's how we'll know it's working."

They all closed their eyes and focused on that single idea: the Ancient Enemy was out there, and they would fight him and defeat him. For revenge, to protect their worlds, and to protect themselves and their partners, they knew it was time to face down their nemesis once and for all.

When Jin opened his eyes, however, he saw that Quemamon was glowing, but the glow was flickering on and off, like a broken neon sign.

"Hey, what gives!" Jin yelled.

"Huh?" Quemamon said, and opened his eyes. Only then did he see that he wasn't glowing, but flickering.

"What's the matter? I thought you were ready to kick some butt!"

"I am!" Quemamon shot back. "Both my Scarmon half and Muchomon half are totally in sync, so don't blame me!"

"Well I'm focused on beating the Ancient Enemy too, and we all know how important it is to—" he turned to Ángel and saw that he looked guilty and his eyes were shifting. He refused to meet his eyes until Jin stepped closer and got right in his face.

"Ángel? What's the matter? What happened to all that talk about 'holy missions' and stuff?"

"I'm trying!" he cried. "But… this morning… I keep thinking about what happened with Amanda."

Jin sighed and crossed his arms. "Look, does it really bother you? You had to realize from the start that not all of us are exactly regular Sunday church-goers."

"Well, what about you, Jin?" Ángel asked. "What do you believe?"

Jin was taken aback. He wasn't sure anyone had ever asked him about his religious belief before and he had to stop and think about it. "That's… kind of difficult to answer."

"Please tell me. I want to know. We are partners, and we should know this sort of thing about each other."

Jin sighed. "I guess I'm not really a spiritual kind of guy. But, if you push me on it, I guess you could call me a Buddhist. My mother used to tell me all about karma, about how if you do good things then good things will happen, and if you do bad, then bad things will happen."

Ángel smiled. "That sounds like a good belief."

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure it's that simple," Jin said with a shrug. "If it really worked like that, then, after all the bad stuff I've done, I should be dead by now."

"Jin!"

"Oh relax, I didn't mean it like that, I don't have a death wish. I suppose my mother would have said that I'm still around because of the _Amida Butsu_. She used to drag me to shrines and ask him to intervene on my behalf." He smiled, somewhat ruefully, as he recalled the memory. "She asked me to pray and ask for his help too. I did, but I'm not really sure I bought into any of it until I got stuck in the Digital World for a few years. Part of me really believed that I just needed to have good enough karma before I could go home. That's why I spent all that time with Scarmon, going around hunting evil digimon."

Ángel nodded. "I see. I do not really know what Buddhism is, though. Who is this Amida? Is he like Jesus? And do you believe in Heaven?"

"Well, sort of. Amida rules over a place called _Joudo_, the pure land. It's sort of like Heaven, but the idea is that when you go there, Amida teaches you how to be enlightened so you can go on to Nirvana. That's like the whole 'one with the universe' thing."

"Ohhh, I have heard of that before. That's very interesting. But… that's only if you're good?"

"Well, Mom used to tell me stuff like 'If you lie, King Enma will pull out your tongue,' and 'If you keep doing bad things, you might go to Hell when you die,' but I figure she was just trying to scare me. I guess I don't really buy into the idea that there is a Hell. I'm not really sure I buy any of it, but I like to think that… well, after she… you know…"

Ángel nodded. "I understand."

"There's this idea that people can stick around Earth even after they become enlightened. They're sort of like angels and they're supposed to help you out, guide you to do the right thing, blah blah blah. They're called _bodhisattvas_. I guess it would be nice if Mom became one." He blushed slightly after this confession, wondering if it wouldn't seem a bit childish. Ángel smiled, however, and apparently took it quite seriously.

"That is a beautiful idea," he said. "I hope that it is true."

"So, yeah, there you go. We don't all have the same beliefs, but we're all fighting on the same side," Jin said. "So, again, does it really matter?"

Ángel looked down. "But… you and I, we believe similar things. I am sure that, even if you are wrong, God could forgive you. But Amanda, she… how can she not believe in Him at all?"

Jin let out an exasperated sigh. "Oh come on! Can't this wait until later?"

"I am sorry, I am just worried that we… we do not have as much in common as I thought."

"Who cares?" Jin shouted. "She's not your digivolving partner, I am! What does it matter if you two aren't a perfect match?"

Ángel blushed. "Well—"

"Hey," Quemamon said, addressing Ángel as he cut in, "does this have anything to do with the two of you kissing last night?"

Jin's eyes went wide and he stared at Ángel, who grinned sheepishly. "You did _WHAT?"_

* * *

Mimi heard Jin's loud yell and raised an eyebrow mischievously.

"What was that, Mimi?" Lilymon asked.

The girl laughed. "I think today is about to get even more interesting than we thought," she said knowingly.

* * *

At about the same time as Jin and Ángel were having their conversation, a similar situation was brewing with Michael and Amanda.

"Amanda, you seem really distracted," Michael was saying. "We can't seem to get Freezedramon to glow, and we need to practice our syncing in order to fight today."

"I'm trying!" she exclaimed.

"It's okay, Amanda," Freezedramon said, his rumbling draconian voice still managing to sound soothing and compassionate as he looked down on his much smaller partners.

"Is it what we're focusing on? I thought the idea of protecting our homes and families was a good way to focus, but if we need to change our focus…"

"No, that's not it," she said. "It's… it's just what Ángel said earlier."

Michael sighed. "I know it seems upsetting, but I'm sure he was just surprised. You remember his town, right? They seemed very religious, so he's just not used to the idea that not everyone has the same beliefs as he does."

"But he only seemed shocked by _mine._ What if…" and here Michael was startled to see how genuinely worried she looked, "what if he thinks I'm just a bad person?"

"Because you're, um… not religious?"

"_Atheist_, Michael. I'm not afraid to say it. Wait... _you_ don't think I'm a bad person, do you?" she asked, suddenly fearful.

"No, of course not!" he said instantly, and Amanda knew by his quick reply that he meant it. She relaxed a little. "I'm not used to meeting many people who just come right out and say it like that. And I don't think you should be ashamed of it; you should believe whatever you think is right."

She smiled. "I'm glad to hear you say that. But still, what about Ángel?"

"I doubt he thinks you're a bad person," he said, "and if he does, that's his problem, isn't it? Why are you so worried about what he thinks?"

"Well, it's uh… you know, it's just that… if w-we were to…" she started to mumble and trail off and Michael gave her a skeptical look.

"Amanda, I know you can be flirtatious, but aren't you getting ahead of yourself? If you're interested in Ángel, you should talk to him, but don't let it distract you now. We've got a fight to win! I mean, I'm not sure where this is coming from. You two would probably make a cute couple, but it's not like you even know if he's interested, right?"

She blushed and Michael became even more confused, when Freezedramon suddenly spoke up. "Well, thanks to Penguinmon, I know what's going on. Should I tell him, Amanda?"

Still blushing, she nodded silently.

"Well, Michael," Freezedramon said, "last night Amanda and Ángel had their first kiss together."

Michael's response was considerably more positive than Jin's, although he was just as surprised.

"Are you serious? Amanda, congratulations!" he exclaimed. "If you don't mind my asking, how was it?"

She smiled in spite of herself. "We were just standing there, the moonlight was coming in through the window and we were talking about all the time we spent here in the Digital World and he was being so sweet," she said, her mood slowly turning more somber. "And now it's all messed up because he thinks—"

"Whoa, whoa, relax, Amanda," Michael said. "Listen, I know you probably think this sounds corny, but I think romance is one of the most important things in life."

Amanda looked at him and nodded. "You're right," she said. "That _does_ sound corny."

Freezedramon chuckled.

"Do you want my advice or not?" he asked, folding his arms.

"Sorry. What should I do?"

"Well, I think Ángel should hear what you have to say and you should hear him out. If you two can talk this over, maybe you'll find it isn't so bad. But we're not going to get any training done until we can get this settled and we don't have time to waste. Let's find him and see how he really feels."

She balked at that. "Wait, now?"

"Like I said, no time to waste! Freezedramon, you might as well save your strength and de-digivolve while we settle this."

"Good point," he said, and the massive icy dragon returned to Penguinmon and Betamon a few seconds later. Together, the four of them walked back to their camp, where Mimi was still talking to Lilymon.

"Oh, you're back already?" Mimi asked. "I'm not sure that was long enough for training."

"Yeah, I haven't even had a chance to stretch my wings properly!" Lilymon added.

"No, actually we need to find Ángel," Michael said. "Amanda needs to talk to him."

"Oh wow, so you really feel strongly about what happened! It's time to fight for your relationship!" she exclaimed, and Michael smiled, knowing she couldn't help but enjoy the drama in spite of herself.

"Come on, let's get this crap over with!" Jin's voice came from the woods and they could hear him as he roughly came through the foliage and underbrush.

"Jin, please!" said a familiar voice, and Jin stomped into the clearing. Ángel and their two digimon were hot on his heels, with Ángel reaching for Jin's shoulder, trying to stop him. They both froze when they saw the rest of them had returned to camp as well.

"Good," Jin grunted. "All right, this cutesy little romance is making it impossible to train. We need to prepare and all this guy can think about is you!" he yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Amanda.

"Aww!" Mimi, Michael, and a significant number of the digimon said in unison.

"Stop that!" Jin growled. "This is serious, the fate of the world is in the balance and he can't get whatever stupid kiss you two had out of his mind!"

_"Awwww!"_ they all said again.

Jin slapped his forehead in frustration. "Look, can you two please just work this out?"

Amanda looked to Michael, who nodded encouragingly, and she stepped forward, with Ángel doing the same.

"L-listen, Ángel," she began, "I was going to tell you that I'm an atheist, I just… I just was afraid of what you'd say and I didn't think it would come up so soon."

"Well, I… I was very surprised. I guess I can't understand why you do not believe."

"It's kind of a long story, but the short answer is just that, you know, as a scientist, I don't like to believe in something unless the evidence is convincing. I mean, maybe God does exist, I'm just not sure."

Ángel looked down, and it seemed that was hard for him to hear, but he finally sighed and said, "All right… yes, I can understand that. But you should understand that I see God everywhere in my life."

"I do!" she cried. "My family still goes to church, and I still love them, and they love me. I can respect your belief, even if I don't feel the same way!"

Ángel smiled and sighed with relief. "I am glad. I thought that, well, maybe you thought I was superstitious, or that you thought I was stupid."

"What? No! You're really sweet and you're great at figuring out how to help people, which is something I've never been good at! But I thought you were upset because you thought I was… you know, an evil, godless heathen or something."

"I would never think that!" he said, genuinely shocked. "You are so smart, and you are so good to your digimon and your friends. Why would I ever think something terrible like that?"

They all heard a high-pitched squeak and turned to see Mimi watching the whole scene eagerly, her eyes misting over as if watching a particularly heartwarming scene in a movie. At that, the tension in the air seemed to lessen, and whatever cloud that was hanging over their heads dissipated.

"Ugh, there, that wasn't so hard," Jin grumbled. "Okay, are we done?"

"I… suppose so," Ángel said. "But I still wonder if this is going to be a problem in the future."

Jin gave him a long, exasperated look.

"That's a good point," Amanda said, suddenly in thought. "I mean, we come from such different points of view. I'm glad you don't think I'm a bad person, but, well, are we even compatible?"

"You don't have to be," Jin said. "The end. Figure it out later. You go with preppy. Me go with choir boy. Training. Now. Goodbye." He grabbed Ángel's arm and started to lead him away.

"Hey, hold on!" Mimi exclaimed. "You don't really think they'll be able to focus if they're still worrying about their future, do you?"

Jin opened his mouth to say something, but Mimi narrowed her eyes and gave him such a Death Glare that he shut it a moment later.

"Anyway, if you're so worried," she went on, "there's a very good way to see if you really are compatible, you know." She grinned slyly and looked pointedly at Ángel.

At first, he didn't seem to understand, but as it dawned on him, a slight blush came to his cheeks and he took a deep breath. "Oh. A-all right," he said. "Amanda?"

"Huh? What is it, what's she talking about?"

"W-well, I, um, I was wondering if you would like to go… you know, on a date?"

The whole group was silent as they turned to Amanda expectantly. Her mouth dropped open and her whole face turned bright red. "A… a… w-w-whaaa?" she gasped. "You mean it? A real **date**? Like, you know, a _date_ kind of date?"

Ángel looked to Mimi in confusion, who nodded encouragingly. "Yes? I mean, yes! We could go on a lunch date today!"

Jin groaned. "Oh for the love of—"

"Jin!" Mimi hissed. "You're my friend and I know you want to train, but if you ruin this, I will make you _wish_ you were facing the Ancient Enemy instead of me!"

Jin whimpered. He had no idea how someone so innocent and girly-looking could put him in his place so well, but he was clearly in his place now. With a sigh of defeat, he muttered, without really looking at any of them, "Say yes. Just… say yes so we can get this over with, _please."_

Amanda managed to partly regain her composure. "Oh, uh… y-yes! I would love to go out for lunch today!"

"Then it's settled!" Mimi cried.

"Congratulations, you two!" Lilymon said, de-digivolving to Palmon a moment later. "And with our help, this will be a great first date!"

"Help? What do you mean?" Ángel asked.

"That's easy!" Mimi said. "Michael and I can help you prepare! Right, Michael?"

Though the idea clearly hadn't occurred to Michael, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sure, why not?"

"Well then," Mimi said, going into social coordinator mode, "I'll take Palmon and Penguinmon with me and we'll help Amanda get ready. Michael, Betamon, and Muchomon can help Ángel!"

"Hey, what about me?" Jin demanded.

Mimi looked at him smugly. "Oh, so now you _do_ care about this silly little date?"

"I… no!" he yelled. "But you don't have to shut me out of it!"

"You can help me, Jin," Ángel said, trying to be helpful.

"Wait, help us with _what_, exactly?" Amanda asked.

"Well, we'll need to get you dressed, give you some tips, help you plan what to do… oh, this is going to be fun!"

_Shoot me,_ Jin thought. _Of all the stupid ways to get ready for an impending apocalypse, a date between these two is the stupidest one I could have imagined…_

* * *

It was decided, since it was a little after 10 o'clock, that each group would take an hour to prepare, and then everyone would have an early lunch at 11. Mimi, Jin, Michael and the digimon would all eat together while Ángel and Amanda would go for a walk around a pond not far from the campsite, then have a nice picnic lunch. It wasn't much, but it was the best they could do, and neither of the two seemed to mind. Which was more than anyone could say about Jin, who was getting moodier by the second.

"After all the talk, all the _crap_ we've been through, I don't know why we're wasting our time with this!" he fumed.

"Jin, there's nothing you can do about it, so why don't you relax?" Michael said, staying calm (although he had to admit there was a small, petty bit of amusement he got from seeing the older boy get so worked up).

"I just… _why?"_ he asked, looking at Ángel. "You're a decent-looking guy, so why are you going on a date with her?"

"Jin!" Michael cried. "That's—"

"It is all right, Michael," Ángel said. "Listen, Jin: there are not many girls my age around my village or even school who want to spend time with the boy with strange psychic powers. They will treat me a like a holy man, but a holy man is not anyone's first choice for a boyfriend."

"Ángel, you're not that strange," Jin said, softening.

"No, I am. But Amanda knows what it's like to be strange, to not quite fit in." He smiled, thinking of their discussion from the previous evening. "Besides, she is not like anyone else I know. She's smart, and she's funny, and she's kind of cute!"

Jin blinked. "No she's not!"

Michael rolled his eyes. "Jin, this isn't getting us anywhere, and just because she's not your type doesn't mean you should be criticizing. I thought you were above judging by appearances."

"What? I… that's not what I…"

When Jin finally finished sputtering, Michael turned back to Ángel. "Listen, you don't have to dress up, but put on a nicer t-shirt and jeans first, Ángel. Then we'll talk about what to do on this date."

"Great!" he said enthusiastically, and went to find some better clothes.

* * *

"Oh my god… oh my god… oh my god… oh _mon dieu_, why did I agree to this?" Amanda exclaimed, pacing back and forth, her face red as she gasped for air.

"Calm down, Amanda," Penguinmon said, "you're going to hyperventilate!"

"Penguinmon's right, Amanda," Mimi said. "Just sit down for a minute and relax. To be honest, I'm surprised you're freaking out so much, since you've been flirting with all the guys on this trip so far."

"Flirting and dating are two different things!" she cried. "Oh god… I can't do this, I think I'm going to have a heart attack. We… we should cancel!"

"Aw, really?" Palmon said. "Do you really want to call it off? You two are so cute together!"

"Yes!" Then she stopped, thought it over, and said, "No! No, I… ah geez, I don't know!"

Mimi walked over to her and, placing a hand on her shoulder, gave her a reassuring smile. "Amanda, it's all right. Nobody is going to make you do this. I thought it was what you wanted, but if you aren't ready for this, then we can tell Ángel and I'm sure he'll understand. He'll be disappointed, but—"

"No," she said finally. "I want to. I've never been on a date before and I'm sure as heck not going to back out of the first one I've ever been asked on. I just… heh heh… I'm just so excited, and so nervous, I can't think straight!"

"Well…" Mimi tried to think of a way to frame it to put the girl's mind at ease. "Oh! Well, you're a scientist, so think of it like an experiment! You'll go on this date and find out more about yourself and Ángel too!"

Amanda seemed to calm down slightly. "Right… yeah, an experiment…" Then she got a mischievous, dreamy look on her face. "A _smexy _experiment."

Mimi laughed. "If it makes you feel better, then great!"

Then, to Mimi's surprise, Amanda suddenly hugged her. "Oh my god, Mimi, I'm going on my first date with a cute guy and it's all thanks to you! Thank you for helping me out. I wish I had more friends like you."

"All right, don't thank me yet," Mimi said. "First, we need to figure out what you're going to wear."

"Um… this isn't good enough?"

Mimi looked her over. She was wearing a blue shirt with a white maple leaf outline on it that said "Toronto Maple Leafs," along with jean shorts and her usual black sneakers. On closer inspection, she noticed that her socks didn't even match.

"Oh Amanda, please tell me you're joking."

"Well, I thought the t-shirt might be okay. Boys like sports, right?"

"I don't think I've ever heard Ángel mention sports. And I'm not sure if they even _have_ hockey in Mexico."

"Well, maybe it shouldn't matter! Boys shouldn't expect girls—"

"Amanda," Mimi said, cutting her off. "Do you care about him?"

Amanda was taken aback. "Well, yeah. Yes, of course I do."

Mimi smiled. "Good rule of dating: dressing up nice isn't just fun, it shows that you want to look nice for your date so he knows you care about it. You wouldn't want him to show up in… I don't know, nothing but a pair of underwear, would you?"

Amanda's eyes shifted nervously. Penguinmon spoke up, saying "Don't answer that!"

Mimi rolled her eyes. "What about that nice outfit we found for you when you came to visit me back in New York? That was cute!"

"Oh, right! I still have that in my bags!" She quickly ran to her bag, rummaged through it, and found the pale blue polo shirt, khaki skirt, and brown shoes. She smiled, remembering that first day when Mimi helped her pick it out. "Thanks a lot, Mimi," she said. "I'm glad I have someone with dating experience to help me out."

"No problem!" she said brightly.

"You're a regular dating expert! I bet you've dated plenty of guys!"

"Um, well…"

"I'm sure you've dated dozens and dozens—"

"No, seriously, that's enough," Mimi said icily. "Now go wash your face and hair."

Amanda gulped. "Er, sorry… I didn't mean it that way."

Mimi softened. "It's okay. Oh, and, um… brush your teeth too. Maybe use a new toothbrush."

"Why?"

"Welllll…" she said reluctantly. "I don't know if it's because of all that sardines you give Penguinmon as a snack and that he keeps stealing your toothbrush, or if it's because you're sharing those fish with him, but, well—"

* * *

"She has fish breath!" Jin laughed.

"Jin, stop making fun of her," Michael said, making a face.

"I'm not making fun of her. If she would lay off the sardines—"

"Drop it," he said, turning back to Ángel. "Okay, you look pretty good," he said, nodding approvingly. "Let's talk about what to do on this date."

"We're in the forest," Scarmon said, "so maybe they should go hunting!"

"Or _fishing!"_ Jin added, the two of them laughing again.

Ángel, Michael, and their digimon shot them both a hard look and then went back to ignoring them.

"I am not really sure what to talk about with girls," Ángel said. "Should I… talk about… clothes?"

"I don't think Amanda thinks much about clothing. That's more Mimi's thing."

"Ten bucks says she shows up in that hockey shirt she was wearing," Jin remarked.

"Why don't you just ask her about things she likes?" Michael suggested. "See what you have in common."

"We're both Digidestined."

"Yyyeah, but I meant more about what you like to do for fun."

"Ah, I see! What else should I do?"

"Make sure you smile when you see her. Don't force it, but girls like it when you let them know you're happy to be with them."

Ángel blushed. "I do not think that will be a problem."

"Good! Now, when I go on a date, I like to make sure we're both talking. If you can have a good conversation, then you're compatible. Don't do all the talking, don't interrupt her too much, but don't make her do all the talking either. Just try to balance it out."

Jin snickered. "The way she rambles on, that might be—"

"And if you're going to flirt, don't be too… you know, pervy."

"Stop ignoring me!" Jin snapped.

"Well, how do you flirt?" Ángel asked, smirking as he similarly ignored Jin.

"Me? Well, everyone's different, but I remember once I was with a girl and we went for coffee at a café downtown. She said she expected me to act macho and get some black coffee with no sugar. I looked at her and said" and here he changed his expression to a somewhat mysterious, knowing smile, "'I don't care about being macho. I like things that are very warm.'" He paused meaningfully. "'And very sweet.'"

"That is so corny," Jin scoffed.

"He got a second date, though," Betamon quipped.

"Ahh, you're good at this, Michael!" Ángel exclaimed.

"Too bad you can't make any progress with Mimi," Jin said. He regretted it an instant later when Michael looked down, heaving a sigh. "H-hey, come on, Mike, you know I'm joking, right?"

"Why are you being such a jerk about this date, Jin?" Michael grumbled. "You're not helping Ángel and you're being cruel to Amanda. She'd be really hurt if she heard you!"

"I think I know," Ángel said. "He is actually a bit jealous because I am going on a date and he has never had one."

Jin's expression darkened for a split second, but then he sneered (awkwardly) and said, "That's ridiculous. Why would I be jealous of—"

"Nice try, Jin," Michael said, "but you're not fooling us. Just the same, I really expected you to be a little more mature than this, even if you are jealous."

"I'm NOT jealous!"

"Listen," Michael said, sighing and putting his hand on Jin's shoulder, "I know it's hard for you. You're the oldest one and you hate that after today you'll be the only one who has never been on a date with anyone."

Jin refused to look at him, but his sneer gave way to frown. He almost looked ashamed.

"Please, Jin," Ángel said, "I want you to be happy for me. Besides, we all look up to you for your experience in other things. Nobody knows more about surviving in the Digital World than you!"

Michael nodded. "That's right. So why don't you just relax and maybe when the time comes and you have a date, we can help you out then?"

Jin looked at him suddenly. "R-really? You'd do that?"

Michael was taken aback. He was only half serious when he made the offer, but apparently Jin welcomed the idea. He smiled and said, "Well, sure, why not! We're… well, we're friends after all, aren't we?"

Jin had a hard time keeping his cool. It was obvious that he was actually a bit touched that things between Michael and himself had finally progressed to that point.

"All right, all right, I'll stop making fun of Mr. Nice Guy and the Queen Geek," he said with a sigh. "But I'm holding you to that promise, Preppy."

Ángel laughed. Jin just had to be a tough guy, even when he was relenting. "Besides, Jin, you must know something about women. Do you have any advice for me?"

Jin thought for a moment, considering the question seriously. Finally, his face lit up and he said, "Oh, you should wear gloves on this date!"

Michael and Ángel both looked at each other in confusion, then turned back to Jin. "Okay… why should he do that?" Michael asked.

"I remember back in the juvenile hall, they had some of those health and wellness programs. It was really stupid. They brought in this gym teacher guy who told us a bunch of useless crap, but one day he taught a… um… a" he muttered something, but neither of them could make it out.

"A what?"

"A… you know… s-sex education class."

Michael raised an eyebrow at his reluctance to say the word. "Are you blushing?"

"See, guys?" Scarmon said to the other two digimon. "This is why I had no idea how humans reproduced until a few days ago."

"Aw, shut up!" Jin snapped. "It's not like you ever needed to know anyway! _Anyway,_ I don't remember much about the class—"

"Well, if you're not sure, Jin, then let me explain," Scarmon said smugly. "See, when a human boy and a human girl love each other very much—"

"I know where babies come from!" Jin shouted, turning red. Ángel, Michael, and their digimon were having a hard time keeping their composure. "Look, I don't remember a whole lot of what he said, but I remember this rhyme he kept saying. He kept saying 'No glove; no love,' over and over again."

Michael gawked at him.

"So, yeah," Jin finished. "That's why you should wear gloves. I guess girls like gloves or something. 'No glove, no love.'"

Michael searched his face to see if he was joking. Sadly, he was not.

Ángel looked confused about what the expression meant as well. "Is that true, Michael? I only have my work gloves, so—"

"No, no, Ángel, you'll be fine. Just…" he rubbed his forehead, still reeling from Jin's last bit of advice, "…just remember to relax and be honest and you'll be fine."

* * *

"If he says something that's supposed to be funny, at least smile, even if it's cheesy," Mimi was saying. "You don't have to laugh, but be happy he was trying to make you laugh."

Amanda was sitting on a log. She had a notebook with her and was busily scribbling away, writing down every word Mimi said. "'Smile at jokes… even if… not funny.' Okay, what else?"

"Use your body language to show him you feel safe with him. Don't scrunch up or cross your arms too much or he'll think you're uncomfortable or something. Try to relax!"

"'Relax… don't… scrunch up.'"

"I know you're excited about this, but don't get too clingy or start talking too much about the future. It's a first date, so don't start talking about things like you're serious. In fact, don't talk about anything serious at all. Like, well… like religion, for example."

Amanda shifted where she sat. "Right… yeah, we probably should save that for another day. Okay, 'No serious talk,'" she said, jotting it down.

"But the big one, Amanda, is to be yourself."

Amanda looked up at her skeptically. "Gee, thanks a lot Mom."

"I'm serious!" Mimi put her hands on her hips indignantly.

"I'm wearing something I never wear, your perfume, hearing all about how to consciously control my behavior. How is that being myself?" She looked down as a thought occurred to her. "Besides, being myself hasn't really won me too many friends back home."

Mimi softened and went to her, sitting next to her. "Listen, Amanda," she said, "how you look is not who you are. Like I said, it's just about looking nice to show you care. I think it's great that you dress however you want normally and I think your classmates will look back one day and say 'I remember Amanda Giroux. She was actually pretty cool.'"

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Pfft. Yeah, right."

"Really!" Mimi insisted. "And the idea is to be honest, talk about what you really like and dislike… don't pretend to like something if you don't. Talk about things you want to do or things you think are interesting, because you don't want a guy to fall in love with a lie. You want him to like _you._ And from the way Ángel talks, it sounds like he really does like you. A lot."

Amanda blushed. "You think?"

Mimi put her hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure of it. Let him get to know you little by little, but be sincere."

Amanda felt a poke on her leg and looked down to see Penguinmon. "You should listen to her, Amanda," he said. "She _was_ the holder of the Crest of Sincerity, after all."

Amanda smiled. "Right. Okay, Mimi, I'll just be myself and he can take it or leave it!"

"There you go!" Mimi exclaimed. "Is there anything else you want to know about?"

Amanda thought for a moment. Then she got another one of her mischievous looks and gave Mimi a sideways glance. "Well… I guess I could use some advice about… you know… kissing?"

Mimi cocked her head to the side, looking confused. "Huh? What for? I mean," she giggled, "you've already kissed him before."

"Uh, yeah, but I mean… well, what if he wants… you know… to, uh, kiss for real?"

Mimi blinked. "I don't understand what you mean."

Penguinmon, fed up with his partner's inability to say what she meant, finally blurted out "She means French kissing, Mimi."

"Oh!" Mimi said, so surprised she actually started blushing herself. "Oh, well, that's… ha ha, that's something you can figure out how to do on your own!"

"What? Oh come on, that's such a cop out!" Amanda protested. "I mean… well, you've… you know… before, right?"

"Well… y-yes, but only with a few guys and… you know, that's personal."

"Aww," Amanda grumbled.

"Listen, it'll be something that just… happens," Mimi said. "Don't work yourself up about it. Don't force it, and if you're not ready for it and he makes a move, just tell him you're not ready for it. I'm not sure Ángel's ready for that sort of thing anyway, but you know how guys can get."

"No. No, I don't."

"Um, they can get _grabby," _Mimi said, deciding to be blunt. "But don't be afraid to let him know where to stop. If he's a nice guy, he'll understand you're not ready."

Amanda took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Wow… I've gotta tell you, Mimi, I'm… I'm really kinda scared about all this."

"Everyone is. Things are always a little weird with your first kiss and your first date," Mimi said, smiling gently. Then, to Amanda's surprise, Mimi gave her a hug. "Oh, Amanda, you're going to have so much fun, though! You should be happy!"

Amanda relaxed slightly. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right! I'm going to have a great time!"

"Right on!" Penguinmon shouted.

"That's the way to be!" Palmon chimed in.

Amanda stood up, dusting the bits of tree bark from her skirt. "Okay, got my outfit, got my notes, Palmon got me a flower to put in my hair – thanks, by the way, Palmon – and I've got my confidence! Let's meet the Y-chromes head on!"

"Yeah!" Mimi said, raising her fist.

As they all turned and started to make their way back to camp, Amanda turned to Mimi and whispered, "Confidentially… who _was_ your first kiss, anyway?"

Mimi winked. "A lady never kisses and tells, you know," she said, sticking out her tongue impishly.

* * *

"They're a little late," Ángel said nervously.

"I'll go get them," Jin said, but Michael held up his arm, stopping him.

"Relax," he said. "You always give girls some extra time to get ready."

"We're on a tight schedule, we don't have time to waste on this!"

"Just give them a few more minutes," Michael said knowingly.

The three boys and their digimon were back at camp, with Ángel waiting nervously, Michael calm and collected, and Jin's impatience starting to get the better of him. Meanwhile, the three digimon sat by, mostly spectators for the event.

"I don't get them," Scarmon was saying. "This dating crud is ridiculous. I can't believe we're watching this instead of practicing some moves!"

"It is important to them!" Muchomon protested. "Besides, when we work together as Quemamon, we are already pretty strong. Not even a martial artist like Pandamon could beat us! How much more practice could we need?"

"Heh, I guess you've got a point there," Scarmon said, feeling a bit mollified.

"Yeah, plus it makes humans happy, most of the time. Still, it's not as fun when Michael goes on a date and I have to stay behind."

"Eh, I guess I'll figure it out if Jin ever gets a date."

"I wouldn't worry," Muchomon said, chuckling. "I don't think human girls like dark human boys with troubled pasts and fantastic physical strength."

"Hey, you're probably right!" Scarmon said, perking up.

Betamon sighed. "You don't pick up on sarcasm well, do you, Scarmon?"

"Sh! I hear them coming!" Scarmon announced.

They all turned and saw Mimi, Amanda, Palmon, and Penguinmon emerge from the forest.

"Hi, boys!" Mimi called, waving and smiling brightly. "Did we keep you waiting long?"

Jin frowned. "As a matter of fact—"

"No, you didn't!" Michael replied, cutting him off.

The group of them gathered together, Amanda and Ángel in the center. Amanda was wearing her pale blue polo shirt, khaki skirt, and brown shoes (all courtesy of Mimi, discreetly packed when they left New York, and saved for a time when they would not be tramping through the woods), along with a vividly colored flower placed in her hair, which had been clipped back to show more of her face. Ángel was wearing a short-sleeved button-up shirt with dark blue jeans (and, it should be noted, he was not wearing gloves, despite Jin's suggestion). It was simple, but Michael insisted it worked.

"Wow," Ángel said, looking Amanda over. "You look very nice."

"Yeah, um… you too," she said, looking down, already starting to blush.

"Okay, great, the happy couple's here," Jin said. "Let's get this show on the road. You both get one hour. And I mean that. Any longer, and I _will_ come and drag you back."

The two of them chuckled.

"I mean it. I don't care if you're in mid-smooch, I'll drag you back by the lips."

"Oh, Jin," Mimi sighed.

"Moving on, it's time to decide what you want for lunch."

Amanda got one of those smirks on her face and Penguinmon cringed. _Don't say it, whatever it is, don't say it—_

"Well, I don't know about you guys," she said, leering deliberately at Ángel, "but I could go for… a little Mexican."

"Wh-what?" he stammered.

"Heh heh… you know," she said, losing her composure, "'c-cause, um, you know... you're…"

"Oh jeez," Penguinmon sighed.

"Okay, the little perv is not allowed to talk until you're both out of my sight," Jin growled. "Since this little adventure is almost over, we're dipping into our rations. Lucky you, we've got granola bars, some dried fruit, bottled water, and your choice of canned meat: you want the Spam or the corned beef hash?"

Amanda opened her mouth.

"Uh uh, no talky, remember?" Jin said.

"Jin!" Michael cried. "Don't be so—"

"Ángel, what'll it be?" he asked, ignoring Michael.

"Oh, uh… I guess we'll take the Sss—" he looked over at Amanda who shook her head vigorously, making an obvious "yucky" face, "—ssscorned beef hash?" He looked over at Amanda, who nodded approvingly.

"Looks like you made a wise choice, sir," Jin said, handing them a backpack filled with the items.

"Yay!" Mimi said.

"…which means the rest of us get to have the Spam," Jin finished.

"Eww," Mimi said.

"I don't think I've ever had Spam," Michael said, thinking aloud.

"Yeah, well, you're in for a treat, Moneybags," Jin said before turning back to the couple. "Okay, you got your backpack, here's a blanket for the picnic," he said, shoving a rolled-up blanket into Amanda's arms, "now go on your date." He took a deep breath and mustered a tight, forced smile. "Have fun."

"All right, we'll be back in an hour!" Ángel said as the two of them turned to leave.

"Give or take," Amanda whispered.

"Seriously! By your lips!" Jin shouted after them.

Once they were both out of sight, Mimi turned to them all. "Okay, so who's coming with me to see how the date goes?"

"What?" Michael cried.

"You can't do that!" Penguinmon protested.

"That's right, you should respect their privacy!" Muchomon agreed.

"So you're saying you're _not_ curious about how the date goes?" Mimi asked, eyeing both digimon suspiciously. "Your partners' _first_ date?"

Penguinmon and Muchomon looked at each other.

"Okay, maybe a little," Penguinmon admitted.

"I was going to do a fly-over after lunch," Muchomon confessed.

"And Michael and I just _have_ to see our handiwork!" Mimi said. "Ooh, I can't wait!"

"Mimi," Michael said, laughing, "I don't believe you. You _planned_ this, didn't you?"

Mimi winked at him, and he felt his heart melt. "All right. I'm in too."

They all stealthily went off in the same direction as Amanda and Ángel, making sure to keep their voices down as they pursued their quarry. That just left Jin standing alone with Scarmon in the middle of camp. He blinked as he stared after them.

"Hey…" he said lamely, "what about lunch? Scarmon and I will eat this can of Spam without you!"

"Oh screw this, I'm going to watch too," Scarmon said, giving in as he trotted off. "It's not like I'll ever learn about human mating by hanging out with you!"

"Hey, that's—one day I'll…" and Jin found himself alone, his curiosity growing in spite of his inner protests that this whole thing was stupid and he wanted no part of it. "God dammit," he said, and went after them.

**To be continued…**

_Next time: The battle to decide the fate of two worlds finally arrives, but not until after a pair of 13-year-olds share their first date. Will romance bloom, or is dating at the edge of Armageddon too much of a mood-killer?_


	19. The D Word, Part II

_Author's Note: Please remember to leave a review at the end of the chapter. Nothing motivates me more than hearing what my readers think!_

_Fair warning, this is a long chapter._

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen:**

**The D-Word, Part II**

* * *

Pandamon had been to the Port of Yuessbee many years ago and remembered it as a thriving little town that welcomed a great many to the Continent of Server. Not far beyond it one could find the Great Desert, and traders often travelled to the port to trade on the open market. But looking at the place now, it was clear that things had changed.

The population was sparse and he saw many digimon packing their things, loading them onto carts, and hurriedly boarding a lonesome, broken-down train. The market district was literally in shambles… buildings had been smashed and carts broken and the streets were littered with trash. He wondered what had taken place, but he noted the nervous looks on the citizens' faces as they watched the newcomers disembark from the boat. He decided to get some answers and slake his thirst at a nearby tavern.

Walking inside, it had the look of an old west saloon, though there was no music or indeed hardly any patrons. He strolled over to the bar where a Burgermon was cleaning a glass.

"Can I help you, sir?" the Burgermon asked.

"Yes. Could I perhaps get a glass of green tea?" Pandamon asked.

Burgermon nodded. "Yeah, I think there's some left." He put a pot on a stove in the back and began boiling the water.

"This town," Pandamon began, "it seems a bit, well, **deserted**. I remember it being a bit busier the last I came through here."

Burgermon sniffed. "Yeah, things have gone downhill around here in a hurry. If you hadn't heard, there's a rumor about some pretty horrible things going down in Full Metal City, and we're the closest town to it. The railways are shutting down all over the continent, and some shady characters started coming around Yuessbee, pushing some folks around. Plus… well, it's just a rumor, but they say that the Ancient Enemy has returned and it's all his doing."

Pandamon narrowed his eyes. In trying to get away from the Ancient Enemy, it seemed that perhaps he had mistakenly stepped right into his territory. "I'm sorry to hear of your town's hardship," he said simply.

"You and me both," Burgermon said. "A lot of folks are pulling up stakes. Sailors and merchants who lived here for years are getting out as fast as they can. And after yesterday, I don't blame 'em. I'm selling what's left of my stock and then getting out of here." He smirked. "So, uh, if you'd like something else, I can give you a good price on it."

Pandamon smiled as Burgermon brewed his tea. "Perhaps. And what happened yesterday, if you don't mind my asking?"

Burgermon made a face. "You saw the smashed buildings?" Pandamon nodded. "Yesterday this… _thing_ came up out of the ocean. I've never seen a digimon that big, but he came through, stomped a few buildings flat, and tore through the market district. Gluttonous beast ate almost all the goods and merchandise… and a good portion of the merchants." He shuddered. "Then he just went off toward the desert. I don't know what for, but if this is what the future holds for this town, then I want none of it."

"I don't blame you." Pandamon graciously accepted his tea, drinking it quickly. "Thank you for the information. Good luck in the future."

Little did either of them know that not far away, Crocmon was having a very different conversation. "The Master said you'd show me the way?" he said.

He was speaking to a Blossomon, the both of them standing in a burned-out warehouse. "The Dark One wants you to go on to Full Metal City," Blossomon explained. "Follow the railway tracks for about half a day and we've got a secret railstation that can take you the rest of the way. You might want to get moving, our recruitment is closing and once we have our forces, we will shut down every last station that connects to Full Metal City."

Crocmon made a face. "I hate the desert," he muttered.

"If you can get to Full Metal City, you'll find it more to your liking. Anyway, what's the problem?" she asked, jokingly. "Not a fan of the great outdoors?"

"Let's just say I have bad memories of the desert," Crocmon said, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. His thoughts drifted back to a certain small, black digimon and the memory of a slow, painful trek across a desert, his body wasted away to nearly nothing while he made off with the only food left. But if this journey brought him closer to revenge, it was one he would gladly take.

* * *

Ángel and Amanda emerged from the woods, hearing the sound of the pond as the waves lapped on the shore. It wasn't a very big pond, not much more than an average-sized city block, but both of them let out a sound of admiration at the sparkling blue water and the sight of the lush forest that surrounded the shore.

"Wow, just look at this place!" Amanda said.

"It is very beautiful," Ángel agreed.

"It reminds me of the pond near Roxanne. Sometimes I take Penguinmon and go swimming on hot days. He loves it."

"I have not been swimming in a long time," Ángel remarked. "I do not think it matters, though. We're going for a walk, not a swim today. We don't have our swimsuits anyway." He laughed somewhat nervously.

"Yeah," Amanda said slowly. She stared at the water and a thought came to her mind: _No bathing suits… well, there's always skinny dipping…_

She grimaced. _Darn it, Brain, stop thinking dirty thoughts! This is why I keep getting in trouble! It's a first date, stop thinking about nakedness, you perv! Oh… oh god, I forgot, he can read minds! Crap, did he just read my mind? Stop thinking dirty thoughts, think unsexy thoughts! Um… dead puppies! The last episode of 'Evangelion!' The Holocaust— argh, too far, now he thinks I'm a racist! Crap crap crap…!_

Her heart going off like a jackhammer, she turned to Ángel, feeling horrified at her own thoughts when she saw he was merely looking out at the water serenely, taking a deep breath of fresh air. She slowly calmed down as she realized that he had not, in fact, been reading her mind. In fact, seeing how calm he was made her relax as well and she also took a deep breath of fresh air. The scent of wildflowers, the earthy aroma of the trees, and distinct smell that one always encounters on the shores of lakes and ponds had a soothing, almost hypnotic effect on her and she felt her anxious mind shut down.

"Well," Ángel said, "we do not have all day." He put out his hand, trying to be smooth (but the shakiness of his hand and his voice gave his anxiety away) and said, "Shall we?"

With a blush and a momentary flutter of her heart, she looked down and muttered "Um… yeah. Let's," and took his hand. The two of them began their walk, both red-faced and silent as they tried to think of what to say next.

* * *

"So far so good," Michael whispered.

Mimi unwrapped a granola bar carefully and whispered back "They look really cute holding hands like that."

"Yeah, but if they go around the whole pond like that, their hands are going to get sweaty eventually. I remember when I went on a first date and that happened. I wasn't sure if I should let go or if she would think I didn't want to hold her hand if I did."

Mimi giggled. "That happened to me once too," she said. "Aren't first dates so awkward?"

"I'm just glad I don't sweat," Palmon commented.

"Likewise," Betamon commented. "Still, it might be nice on a hot day. It's rough when you need to keep rehydrating."

The whole group of them had taken a position up in the forest not far from the couple on their date. Their spot was fairly well hidden from view and it would be easy to hide in the bushes if they got too near. As long as they kept their voices down, nobody would hear them, leaving them free to spy on Ángel and Amanda as long as they wanted.

"I feel a little guilty about this," Penguinmon admitted.

"I don't," Muchomon said. "I wish I had some of those little binoculars they use at those fancy shows."

"Opera glasses?" Michael asked.

"But they aren't going to sing."

"I sure hope not," Penguinmon said. "Something tells me Ángel would turn the other way and run if Amanda started singing."

"Penguinmon, that's not very nice!" Palmon said.

"It's not her voice," he said defensively, "it's not that bad. The problem is that she always sings anime theme songs and gets _way_ too in to them. I can't tell you how many times I've been karate-chopped or thrown across the room."

There was the sudden _crunch_ of sticks and foliage underfoot and they all turned to see Jin standing there. "There you are!" he exclaimed.

"Shh!" they all hissed as Michael and Mimi tackled the surprised boy and brought him to the ground.

"Jin, you **dope**, you want them to hear us?" Michael demanded.

"Would it end their date faster?"

"If you end this date," Scarmon remarked, slinking in to get a better view, "then trust me on this: Mimi will end _you_."

Jin turned and saw Mimi's dark, very nearly murderous expression and wisely decided another round of complaining wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"Fine. I guess, when in Rome…" he said. "Oh, by the way, I brought that Spam from earlier."

"I'll give it a try," Michael said. "I hear they love this stuff in Hawaii. Let's give it a shot!"

"Yeah, it's _real_ exotic tropical stuff all right," Jin said sarcastically as he peeled the lid off the can. "Anyway, what are those two doing now?"

As they ate their informal lunch, they continued watching the date from afar.

* * *

As they walked hand-in-hand, Ángel and Amanda settled into a slightly uncomfortable silence. Though both were enjoying themselves and the feeling of their hands intertwining with each other, neither one wanted to break contact as they stepped over rocks, logs, or puddles of water along the shore. This made it a bit awkward to walk as they continuously bumped into one another or nearly tripped over each other's feet, occasionally jerking one another in one direction suddenly. After about the fifth time it happened and after a brief, nervous apology, finally Amanda said, "Um… sh-should we talk about something?"

"What? Oh… yes, I think we should!" Ángel replied.

"Great, um… oh!" she said, remembering one of Mimi's suggestions. "What are your goals in life, Ángel?"

"Goals?"

"Yeah, you know, like… ugh, this sounds so corny, but fine, I'll say it: what do you want to be 'when you grow up?'"

"Ah, I see," he said. She looked up at him, anticipating his answer as he frowned in deep thought. But when he finally turned to her, he just smiled and said, "I don't know."

She blinked. "Oh come on." She sighed irritably. "Don't just cop out on me. You must have some idea."

He looked genuinely confused. "No, I… well, when I was young, I wanted to be a fireman. But not anymore." He paused for a longer moment, rubbing his chin with his free hand as the two of them stopped walking. "I really do not know," he said finally, shrugging his shoulders.

She let go of his hand and stood in front of him. "Well that's a sucky answer!" she said, putting her hands on her hips. "Everyone should have at least _some_ idea of what they want to be in the future."

He looked down, somewhat shamed by her apparent scorn. "I am sorry… but for so long I thought my purpose in life was just to defeat the Ancient Enemy. Now the day is finally here and I do not know what I will do in the future. I really never thought about it until now."

She softened. "That's kind of sad, Ángel," she said. "When this is over, you should really think about what you want out of your life."

"Well, maybe I can just borrow money from you when you are a rich scientist!" he said.

She stared at him. "Huh? That's—oh, wait, that was a joke!"

"Yes, I didn't really—"

"Oh crap, I was supposed to laugh! I'm sorry!"

"What? No, it wasn't very—"

"Tell me another!"

"What? I… uhh…"

* * *

Off in the bushes, watching this exchange, Mimi smacked her forehead. "Amanda, you goof, I just said to smile politely!" she cried.

"Never mind what I said earlier," Jin said, snickering as he watched the pair. "This is actually pretty entertaining."

* * *

"Uh, it's okay, forget the joke. What do _you_ want to be in the future, Amanda?"

"Me? Oh!" she said, apparently eager to discuss the subject. "I want to get a job as an electrical engineer!"

"An electrical engineer?"

"Yeah, like at MIT or a private company or something. I want to develop new technology based on the Digital World!" she said excitedly.

"What kinds of things?" he asked.

"Well think about it!" she exclaimed. "The Digital World just _appeared_ after humans invented electronic digital computing and it gets its data from the Internet now. Without even trying, we created new life, _intelligent_ life, and a whole new world. How did that happen? If we could figure that out, what else could we do? Could we create new resources? Or maybe we could learn how the Digiports work and create teleportation technology! Or maybe we could even learn how to develop artificial intelligence and make smarter technology! Oh wow, just _think_ of it!"

He smiled, admiring how enthusiastic she was, realizing how much she thought of her future and regretting that he didn't have a better answer regarding his own. "Well," he said, "you should be careful when you invent better technology. You might invent the Terminator!"

At first she was angry that he would think such a thing, but when she saw his warm smile, she realized he was teasing and actually laughed. "Mmmaybe," she said slowly, with a hint of mischief. "Or maybe I'll make sure the robots I build aren't smarter than me. And I'll build an army and just take over the world myself. What do you think about that?" she asked, leaning in and raising an eyebrow.

"I think I found my new job," he said as he likewise leaned closer. "I'll become a hero and smash your robot army to pieces and save the world!"

She raised her hands and in mock surprise said "What? You'd break _my_ robots! How dare you! Well, I won't let you!"

"And how will you stop me?" he laughed.

"Wellll," she said slowly, stepping in closer, her cheeks already starting to redden, "m-maybe I'll just seduce the handsome savior of humanity and bring him over to the dark side." She poked him in the chest with one finger as she said this, tracing a line downward as she looked up at him.

Ángel blushed profusely. "Th-that's… ah, that's a good plan. That might just work."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment before they both started laughing, the tension broke in an instant. "Ah jeez," Amanda said, "I can't keep a straight face when I try to pull off that Wicked Temptress act."

"Shall we continue?" Ángel asked, holding out his hand, still laughing slightly. She took his hand and the two continued their walk.

* * *

"Smooth," Betamon said. "Wow, I think they're getting the hang of this."

"I'm glad she recovered after that stupid bit with the joke," Penguinmon said. "Hey, can someone unscrew the lid on this water for me? It's hard to do it with flippers!"

Jin obliged and handed the open bottle back to Penguinmon. "It's good to see Ángel lighten up for a change," he remarked.

"Yeah, now if only we could get you to try it sometime," Muchomon quipped.

"I'm ignoring that," Jin said, even though he had cracked a smile. "Hey, Mimi, Michael, how's the Spam?"

"Yech," Mimi said, making a face as she chewed. "It's too salty!"

"How about you, Mike?"

Michael, to everyone's surprise, was actually wolfing down his piece. "It _is_ a little salty, but this is actually pretty good!"

"Ew, Michael, how can you actually like something so **disgusting**?!"

Michael cringed and Jin, for once, decided to come to his rescue. "That's not disgusting, Mimi. Michael just has an open mind when it comes to food. Besides, I've eaten way grosser things than this."

"I don't want to hear—"

"Like what?" Betamon asked, his curiosity piqued.

Jin grinned. "Bugs," he replied.

"Eww!" Mimi and Palmon said.

"And worms," he added, needling her further.

"Ewww!" the two said again.

"Mimi, Palmon, shh!" Michael said, though he was having a hard time keeping himself from laughing.

"I don't know what the big deal is," Betamon said. "Bugs aren't gross!"

"Neither are worms!" Muchomon added.

Jin just shrugged. "Sometimes things were tough when Scarmon and I were travelling around the Digital World. I ate whatever I could find when things got bad. But this guy here," he said, patting Scarmon on the head, "will eat absolutely anything."

"Ugh, I remember," Mimi muttered. "Palmon remember a few days ago when he ate that poor birdy?"

"Hey, yeah! You never apologized for that, Scarmon!" she exclaimed.

"And I'm not gonna!" he laughed. "Besides, I like to think of myself as a gourmand."

"Where did _you_ learn that word?" Michael asked.

"I'll have you know that I've eaten out of the dumpsters of some of the finest restaurants in New York while Jin was in juvenile hall!" he said. "And anyway, you humans are the disgusting ones. You'll eat something dead and preserved with chemicals out of a metal box, but I get picked on for eating the freshest food I can find!"

"As in 'still alive,'" Muchomon remarked.

"The fresher the better!" Scarmon chuckled.

"Yeah, but you're the only digimon here that has actually eaten _other_ digimon," Michael said.

"Food's food," Scarmon replied as he snapped up more of his lunch. "Though I gotta tell you, even I regretted this one time when I ate a live Numamon."

"Bleh!" Mimi said, nearly gagging. "Ewww, can we _please _change the subject? You guys are grossing me out!"

All the guys shared a mutual chuckle, but agreed to be quiet and went back to watching the date still in progress.

* * *

"No way, you like _Dragonball Z_ too?!" Amanda exclaimed.

"Yes. I mean, I have not seen every episode—"

"Oh my god, oh my god, can you do the Fusion Dance?"

Ángel cocked his head to the side. "What? You mean the dance where Trunks and Goten combine? I… well, I mean, as a kid…" he started to turn red, but Amanda's eyes lit up.

"We have to try it!" she cried.

"Huh? We… we do?"

* * *

"What the heck are they doing?" Scarmon asked.

"Good question," Michael replied. The pair was now out of earshot, but appeared to be lining up side-by-side on the opposite shore of the pond.

"It's the Fusion Technique," said Jin, Mimi, Muchomon and Penguinmon almost in unison.

The others stared at them.

"Well, you know," Jin said, trying to stay nonchalant, "I did grow up in Japan. I don't know too many people in Japan who _don't_ know what Dragonball is."

"Same here!" Mimi admitted.

"And I'm guessing we just know it from our partners' geeky preferences, Muchomon?" Penguinmon asked.

"Yes. Ángel loves _Dragonball._ But I am surprised that even girls like that show."

"Well, it wasn't my favorite," Mimi said, somewhat embarrassed, "but Bulma always wore cool things on that show. Oh and the older Trunks from the future was kind of cute!"

"You are such a girl, Mimi," Jin remarked.

"Darn right!" Mimi shot back.

"That is probably why Amanda likes the show too, right, Penguinmon?" Muchomon asked.

Penguinmon stared at his partner as she energetically gave pointers to Ángel's stance as they lined up and recalled more than a few instances where he had caught her unaware, standing in the middle of the room and yelling intensely, apparently trying to 'power up,' as she put it.

"Yes," he lied. "That's exactly why she likes the show. And it has nothing to do with wishing she could fire energy beams from her hands."

* * *

_"FUUUU-"_

"No, no, bend your knees more!"

"Sorry, Amanda!"

"One more time, almost got it!"

They stood side-by-side, knees bent, arms out, and slowly moved closer as they began the chant.

_"FUUUUU… SION!"_ they both said standing straight on one foot, one knee raised with their arms straight out in opposite directions. _"HA!"_ they shouted, bringing the tips of their two index fingers together, forming almost an arch.

"Yeah, that was perfect!" Amanda said, raising a fist in triumph. _Okay,_ she thought, _I managed to find a guy who can do the Fusion Dance with me. That totally outranks the religious stuff in terms of boyfriend and/or future husband material!_

"That was actually pretty fun," Ángel said as he laughed. "I haven't even seen _Dragonball_ in a while, though. I was not sure I would remember!"

"I didn't think they had it in Mexico."

"Of course! The Spanish dub is very popular. I used to watch it at my friends' houses in elementary school. I guess you probably watch the English version?"

"Well, yeah, though I guess I like the Blue Water version that I used to watch on YTV, but the Funimation dub is good too."

"Wait… there is more than one English version?"

"Well Canadian television requirements— you know what, never mind!" she said, rolling her eyes. "So if you like it, why haven't you seen it in a while?"

Ángel cringed. "It is because after my… ah, abilities began to appear and I became a Digidestined, the other children… I suppose they thought I was too strange. It is hard to keep friends that way. They just stopped inviting me over after school."

Amanda sighed. "Yeah, tell me about it… being strange and alienated? Story of my life!"

"But I do not understand why it is like that with you, Amanda. Being so smart is wonderful!"

"That's sweet, but trust me, nobody appreciates brains. Bosoms, yes. Brains, no."

_"Qué?_ What are 'bosoms?'"

"N-nothing!" she said quickly. "Anyway, what about you? With all the other weird stuff going on, we kinda just accepted that you're psychic or empathic or whatever we're calling it but… I mean, really, that's kind of amazing!"

"It's nothing really—"

"Ángel… you can _read minds._ I know I yelled at you earlier about it and I'm sorry, but, geez, for lack of a better word, that's a _Super Power_. You're like Professor X or Jean Grey or at the very least Deanna Troi on _Star Trek_—"

"Who?"

"Just work with me!" she snapped. Then she took a deep breath and calmed herself. "Sorry. I mean… what's it like?"

He frowned. "Like? I don't know… if I am trying, I can concentrate and understand what someone is thinking. But if a thought is very strong or it has emotion, I can hear it. If I am not watching them, it sounds to me just like they are speaking, which is why I make mistakes sometimes. People think in their own voices."

"Wow. That's kinda trippy."

"Well, it is not so great when I accidentally hear someone's thoughts. I do not mean to, but it is… it is like if you hear the radio or television on in the next room. Or if someone is having a private conversation and they don't know you are nearby. I do not _try_ to hear their thoughts, but sometimes I just _do_."

Amanda rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Have you thought about trying to use the ability for something? Like, say, performing?"

Ángel looked startled. "I… sometimes feel alone enough without trying to **display** my gift. I am nobody's freak show."

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it quite like that but… well, think about it: you could be famous, you could be _rich_, if you wanted to. And just for the science, think what people could learn from a real, living psychic!"

Ángel paused and thought that last idea over. But then he shook his head. "No," he said. "This ability may be helpful, but others would use it for bad purposes. Armies would use it for spying, or they might invade others' privacy on purpose. I know I make mistakes sometimes, but I try not to use my ability more than necessary, even when I am curious about the thoughts of others." He smiled at her. "And that is why I have tried very hard not to read your mind, Amanda. I want you to feel safe with me. I will never try to read your thoughts without your permission."

She smiled back. "That's… Well, I'm actually a little relieved. I'm sorry, I guess I was a bit nervous. It's such a unique ability, though… as a scientist, I have to admit that I'm a little curious about it."

Ángel sighed. "Well, I guess I do not mind if _you're_ the one studying me."

"Oh, so you don't mind if I study you?" She cringed. "Th-that didn't sound right," she said as Ángel laughed. "What I mean is, let's try a little experiment."

He shrugged. "All right. What do you want me to do?"

"You can read thoughts and emotions, right?"

He nodded.

"What about images?"

"Images? Like pictures? Yes, sometimes."

"Okay, then here's an idea: maybe all you need to control your ability better is a little practice. I'll think of an image, and you read my mind and tell me what it is."

"What kind of image?"

"Let's see… how about playing cards?"

Ángel thought this over. "I think I can do that. Are you… are you sure it is okay? Nobody has really ever _asked _me to read their mind like this before."

"I don't mind, and this could be fun!"

He sighed. "If you're sure, then… okay, let's try it!"

"Great!" she said. "Okay, first one…" she closed her eyes and put her hands on her head. Then she opened her eyes and said, "okay, got it!"

Ángel squinted his eyes and stared at her. After only a second he said, "The Ten of Diamonds."

"Perfect!" she exclaimed. "Nice job, but let's try another one. How about…" she again closed her eyes, then opened them, "this one!"

"The Ace of Spades," he said. "And you are also thinking of a song by some band called Motorhead."

She burst out laughing. "Oh wow, that's awesome! I didn't even mean to, but it just popped in there."

He shrugged, but his smile grew more confident.

"Okay, how about the next one…" she closed her eyes, then opened them again. "Try it now, smart guy."

He squinted his eyes, then they widened and he laughed. "That is the Queen of Hearts. Only it is you dressed up as the Queen of Hearts. You look cute in that little crown."

She smiled warmly, her body actually going a bit slack as she stared at him, practically melting into her shoes. "Yeah… you're three for three."

"Well, then," he said, squinting again as he stared at her. "The fourth card is—"

She stiffened. "No, wait, don't! I wasn't—"

But it was too late. Ángel turned bright red and his eyes went wide. "Th-that was not a card. That was me, dressed as the King of Hearts… without a shirt—"

"Oh god, shut up!" she said, turning bright red.

"—kissing you on the neck while you were dressed as the Queen of Hearts." He laughed in spite of himself.

"Shut uuuup!" she wailed, turning from him and burying her face in her hands. "Oh geez, that is so embarrassing, I'm so sorry!"

Ángel managed to stop his laughter, but then a mischievous look came to his face. As Amanda was still turned, he quietly stepped closer to her and, while her guard was down, gently brought his head down gave her a quick kiss on her neck.

_"UWAAAAH!" _she shrieked, startling him as she did and jumping forward reflexively. She turned back and stared at him, red-faced and with an expression of utter disbelief.

"I… I'm sorry, I—"

"No, it's… you just startled me, but I, um… it wasn't… bad, just…" She giggled nervously. "I might like that… _later_. But let's, uh… let's save that for our second date." She put her hand to her neck and giggled again. "But anyway, that was an… _interesting_ experiment."

"Okay. Wait, 'second date?'" he asked, his expression brightening.

"If you play your _cards_ right, mister," she said coyly. "Let's finish this walk around the pond, set up our picnic blanket, and get some lunch. We should probably do that before we run out of time. Unless you want Jin to drag us back by our lips?"

"No, let us go with your plan. That sounds much better."

* * *

"Oh wow," Mimi squealed. "I so wish I could hear what they were talking about, but at least they're coming back around the pond now."

"Not sure if that was a good move or not," Jin said, "but at least she didn't clobber him for it."

"What, kissing her on the neck?" Penguinmon asked. "Oh, trust me, I've seen that expression before. She liked it, but she just wasn't ready for it."

Jin considered this for a second. "Mimi, do girls… like that?"

"Huh?" she asked. "Like what?"

"What Ángel did?"

"Kissing on the neck?" Mimi asked, turning a little red. "That's… I'm not answering that."

"Jin, I think almost everyone does," Michael said. "Come on, this can't be the first time you've seen it. Haven't you ever watched a romance movie before?"

"I'm not sure I saw too many movies even before I went to the Digital World, and at the juvenile hall, I think we would have had a riot if they tried to show us a romantic comedy," he said. "If it didn't have guns, explosions, or a good fight scene, I wasn't interested."

"You are such a kid, Jin," Michael said.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Do I have to put you two in time out?"

"Wait, look everyone!" Muchomon said. "They're setting up the picnic blanket!"

* * *

Ángel took the blanket and spread it near the shore of the pond, not far from their unseen friends. He gingerly set the different food items on it and gestured for Amanda to sit down. She did so and he sat across from her.

"I am sorry that it is nothing more than corned beef hash," he said.

"It's not your fault," she replied with a shrug. "Besides, I, uh, I was looking forward to your company more than the food."

"I feel the same way," he said, and he smiled warmly. "But if it isn't very tasty, I also brought some spearmint gum—"

_"I don't have fish breath!"_ Amanda cried suddenly.

"Wh-what?!" Ángel stammered.

In the bushes nearby, Michael nearly had to put Jin in a choke-hold to keep him from bursting out laughing, and the digimon dog-piled onto Scarmon for the same reason.

"I… I never said—"

"Don't listen to what anyone else said!" she went on, her face turning bright red and her expression totally panicked. "I smell fine! See for yourself!" she scooted herself closer and spread her arms wide, looking at him expectantly.

"What?"

"Smell me!"

Ángel stared at her, not sure if she was serious.

* * *

Jin had finally managed to contain his laughter and now he merely cocked his head to one side, totally confused. "Mimi… is this normal?"

Mimi had placed her palm to her face. "There is nothing normal about that girl," she sighed. She looked over to Michael. "Get ready, Michael, we might have to jump in and save her from herself."

Michael stared at them, then turned his head to Mimi and shook his head. "No, hold on, Mimi. You're right, she is a very strange girl, but Ángel is just unique enough to roll with this. She's my partner and I'll let her be herself." He smiled. "I don't think she'd forgive us if we ended her first date early."

* * *

"Are you… sure?" Ángel asked.

"Smell me, darn it!" she shouted.

"Wah! A-all right, if you say so," he said, and leaned over to her, sniffing the air. With him so close and him the way he inhaled through his nose, as if smelling a fine wine, she became aware of how awkward her request was and began to blush even more deeply than before. When he finally pulled back, she crossed her arms defensively and scrunched herself inward, even pulling her knees to her chest.

"Um… well?"

Ángel repressed the urge to laugh. He couldn't help but think that her expression resembled that of a puppy that had just done something bad and was giving him the most pitiful look he had ever seen. And yet there was an earnest fear of his judgment that he found perfectly lovable. He smiled at her gently and gave his answer.

"You smell very nice," he said. "Not like fish at all."

"Y-yeah?" she asked, relaxing.

"You, ah, you borrowed Mimi's perfume, didn't you?"

Amanda chuckled. "Caught me. Yeah, I didn't have any, so…"

"It smells nice on you too."

"Thanks. Maybe I'll buy a bottle when I get home." She then thought about the economic disparity between Mimi and herself, and the fact that her parents might not want to buy her a $100 bottle of perfume. "If I can afford it, that is."

"Only if you want to," he said. "Well, now that that is over… your turn!"

She blinked. "What? My turn?"

"Now you smell me."

Her jaw dropped open. "What? Th-that's… no way, that's so embarrassing, I can't—"

"Too late," he said, looking at her smugly. "It is only fair, I smelled you!"

She winced. _Crap, he's got me,_ she thought. Out loud she said, "F-fine! But if you stink," and here she held up a fist, "then it's too the moon, Ángel! Pow! Right in the…" her gaze went to his lips just then and her threat tapered off, "…kisser."

"I'll take my chances," he said.

Amanda sighed and got on her hands and knees edging closer to him. As she got close, she could feel the warmth in the air and he sat up straight, mimicking her open-armed pose from earlier. She took a whiff of the air, catching something she couldn't quite place. It was a subtle, not quite sweet aroma, and definitely not sour. She closed her eyes and inhaled more deeply, getting very close to him now. She wasn't sure what it was, but she knew that she liked it. A tingle went down her spine and spread throughout her body.

"Well?" he asked. "What do you smell?"

_Pheromones,_ she thought, keeping her eyes closed. _Really good ones. _And she felt herself overcome with a new emotion: **desire**.

"Amanda?"

Amid this intoxicating emotion, the answer hit her. "Michael's aftershave."

Ángel laughed. _"Exactamente._ He let me borrow just a little—"

"You smell nice," she said, and he noticed that her eyes were still closed and her voice had a quiet, breathless quality to it now. She opened her eyes and stared up at him dreamily.

Ángel had managed to keep his cool right up until this point. She moved in closer, her face inching toward his, and he knew what was coming.

_Is this all right? _he asked himself. _She's so different from me, she has such different ways of looking at the world, and what will Mother think of her…_ But then he remembered his own advice and he decided, just once, he would listen to his heart. _No regrets, Ángel,_ he told himself, closing his eyes.

Their lips met softly, lingering for a moment before parting. But then Amanda reached up, wrapping her arms around Ángel's shoulders and she pulled herself up to him again, kissing him a second time, then a third on the cheek, then the chin, then his nose in a flurry of gentle pecks before finding his mouth again. He felt her trembling, inhaling sharply through her nose, and he sat up, putting his own arms around her. She relaxed and slid down slightly, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, Ángel," she sighed.

He smiled, enjoying the sound of his own name in her breathless voice. "That was wonderful, Amanda," he told her, and then chuckled as a happy, girlish coo escaped her.

* * *

Mimi's eyes went wide and she actually began to blush. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" she said. "They really did it!"

Michael gave a satisfied smile and folded his arms contentedly. "I knew they had it in them," he said, proud of both his male friend and his digivolving partner for finally getting over their insecurities to have a special moment. In the back of his mind, there was a pang of regret that he wasn't able to share something so wonderful with Mimi, but right then and there he made a decision: when today's battle was won, when the future was secure, he would take Mimi aside and tell her what he'd been aching to say this whole time. He would tell her everything.

"Well, Jin," he whispered, "it's not exactly a perfect date, but… Jin?"

Jin was sitting there, his expression totally transfixed as he slowly ate piece after piece of dried fruit.

"Jin?" Michael asked again. "Jin, what's wrong with you?"

"Sh, I'm watching."

"You… you're enjoying this?" he asked, not sure if he was creeped out or just amused, though at the moment he was leaning towards the latter.

"Aw, look, Michael, Jin's discovered the joy of romance!" Mimi said, eyeing Jin slyly, trying to tease him.

"Ha ha!" Scarmon laughed. "When we get back to Earth, maybe we should take you to a nice romantic comedy! And then we can get some ice cream and talk about your feelings and buy you a nice new pair of high heel shoes that make your legs look _fa~abulous!"_ Jin didn't react, but continued staring. "And… uh, then we'll change your name to 'Jeanie'!" No reaction. "Because you're a girl! A sweet, sensitive girly girl!" Nothing. "With… with feelings! And boobs!"

"Okay, Scarmon, that's enough," Penguinmon sighed. "He's not listening."

"Sure I am," he said, and suddenly knuckled Scarmon's head into the ground. "Now shut up, let's see what they do next."

"Actually," Michael said, looking a bit reluctant himself, "I think we should go. They only have a little more time left for their date and we set out to watch them and make sure it went well. We did that, so let's just give them their privacy."

"What?!" Jin demanded. "But… but we just got to the best part!"

Mimi giggled. "As much as I'd like to watch more of this too, Michael's right, Jin," she said. "Come on, everyone, let's sneak off before we're spotted and ruin everything."

"But… but…" Jin stammered on the verge of whining. "I… oh, fine," he sighed. "Darn it, Mike, why do you always have to be the gentleman around here?"

"One of us has to," Michael shot back.

"Har har," Jin grumbled.

* * *

Amanda turned around in Ángel's arms and leaned back against him.

"Amanda?" he asked.

"Shut up and keep holding me," she said, and the two of them eased back. Ángel sat upright, holding Amanda as she reclined, resting her body against his chest, and the two of them looked out at the little pond once again. "Beautiful," she whispered.

"Not as beautiful as—"

"Finish that corny line and I go back to camp."

"…Never mind."

She chuckled and he relaxed, realizing she had been teasing him again. "But seriously," she added. "Let's just… let's just relax and stay like this a little while longer."

"We haven't eaten yet."

"I don't care. Do you?"

"Not… really."

"We'll eat fast in the last few minutes, I promise. We won't make Jin angry. After all, I really don't want anything bad to happen to my lips right now."

They both shared a laugh about that.

Amanda closed her eyes, turning her head and feeling the warmth of Ángel's body on her cheek. Ángel gave her a gentle squeeze and noticed that he could feel the beating of her heart and that it momentarily fluttered, but then slowed to a comfortable, even rhythm. He gave her a kiss on the top of her head and sighed happily.

_How could I think anything bad about this strange, sweet girl?_ he thought to himself. _Even if she does not believe in God, I know that God is love, and he would never send a good person like her to Hell. And if he did, I would not want to go to any Heaven that refused her when I die._

Amanda whispered something, but he didn't hear her. He asked her what she said and she blushed, opened her mouth, and then closed it again before she could get a word out. Finally, she spoke these words: _"__Ángel, tu es mon cher. Je suis tellement heureuse que nous soyons ensemble. J'espère qu'il sera toujours comme ça."*_

"Amanda?" he asked. "Was that French?"

_"Oui."_

He laughed. "What did you say?"

"I'll… tell you when I'm a little more confident. I know you don't get it, but I'll say it so you can understand… someday."

Ángel nodded. "All right. I'll be waiting."

* * *

The two of them eventually made their way back to camp. They arrived on the scene holding each other's hand.

"Welcome back!" Michael said, smiling when he saw them.

"Did you two have a good date?" Mimi asked, feigning ignorance.

_Wow,_ Michael thought. _Mimi's pretty good at playing innocent when she wants to._ He felt a certain guilty pleasure in keeping up the ruse, but he told himself that no harm was really done and now that it was done it would be better if Amanda and Ángel had no idea of their "chaperones."

Amanda and Ángel looked at each other and smiled.

"Yeah, we had a good time," Amanda said, squeezing Ángel's hand. Then she hiccupped. "Er, we started to run out of time and wolfed down the food you gave us."

"I am sorry we're a little late, Jin," Ángel said, bracing himself for whatever harsh reaction the older boy was going to have.

Jin was actually doing stretches and what looked to be some martial arts moves. Scarmon and Muchomon were watching him, observing the slow, but deliberate moves to get some ideas for the upcoming battle. He looked over at Ángel and said, "Hm… forget about it. I'm glad you two had a nice date and you're only a few minutes late."

Amanda blinked. "Uh, gee… thanks, Jin."

"Are we all ready to train?"

"I'm ready!" Michael said.

"Me too!" Mimi added.

"So are we!" Ángel said.

"Yeah! Oh, wait," Amanda said. "Uh, can Ángel and I have a minute to get undressed?"

They stared at her and she winced. "_Re_-dressed. B-because we're wearing nice clothes… we don't want to be dirty. Our clothes! We'd like to put on our clothes from earlier— Ángel, stop laughing, darn it!"

Ángel blushed and had to cover his mouth with one hand.

Jin folded his arms and Amanda was expecting him to read her the riot act. "Yeah, sure. Just get dressed fast and hurry back here, okay?"

Everyone stared at him incredulously.

"Okay," Mimi began. "Who are you—"

"—and what have you done with Jin?" everyone else in the group finished.

"I love that joke," Palmon said, chuckling.

Jin's serene smile started to look a little forced.

"Uhhhh never mind!" Amanda said. "Okay, changing, be right back!" She went off, and as she passed Mimi, she whispered "Girl talk later, I'll dish when we get a chance!" giving a wink as she grabbed her things and went into the woods to change.

* * *

When everyone was back in their usual clothes, Jin gathered everyone around the camp fire.

"All right, I think I've got an idea," he said. "Seeing these two nutjobs together—"

Mimi and Michael's eyes went wide and they subtly gestured to Jin that he was about to give away their spying.

"—when they came back actually gave me an idea," he said, and both of them relaxed, while Amanda and Ángel remained oblivious. "We're not thinking big enough. We're thinking about our digimon partners and our DNA-digivolving partners, but we should be thinking about the whole group. What I said about us having only three Ultimate levels is still true, but if we figure out a strategy that uses all our strengths and covers our weaknesses by working together, we just might have a shot."

"That's a great idea, Jin!" Mimi exclaimed. "When I was with the original Digidestined, we beat Apocalymon by working together and coordinating one big attack! And he was one of the strongest, meanest digimon we had ever seen! I'm sure not even the Ancient Enemy could be that strong!"

"And we were all there when we used our inner strength to beat MaloMyotismon," Amanda said. "Every Digidestined was there!"

"…Unless they were in prison and didn't have their digivice on them," Jin sighed.

"Oh. Oh, Jin, I forgot—"

"No, no, you see, I missed my chance to save the world for real that day. Maybe today I can make up for it." He had a smile on his face, but it was backed by **determination**. "So here's what I'm thinking: Lilymon has speed, Freezedramon has power, and Quemamon has skill. If we can build a strategy that lets Lilymon keep the Ancient Enemy distracted, Quemamon can penetrate his defenses and get in a few disabling strikes, and then Freezedramon can finish him off. And hey, if we get some sudden miraculous power up like Ángel has faith in, so much the better.

"I know I haven't always been the best team player and I'm never going to be big on dealing with people, but I'm convinced… if we work together, if we can unify and apply everything we've learned, I'm sure we can beat this guy down."

Mimi looked excitedly to each of them, one by one, and stood up. "Group hug!" she squealed.

"No," Jin said. "No hugs."

"Everyone hug Jin!" Mimi commanded, and all four of them tackled him, catching him in a massive group hug. The Digimon piled on, all of them laughing as they did so.

"Okay, okay, that's enough!" Jin laughed. "Seriously, let go… Get the hell off me, you bastards!"

* * *

The whole group worked on their strategies, focusing on harmonizing the digimon and even teaching each other a few new moves. It was a little after noon when they started and within an hour and a half, they finally had their strategy down pat. Using makeshift targets and maps drawn in the dirt, they built up their confidence and soon they felt positive that this plan would work. They had everything in order and soon the Ancient Enemy would fall and their worlds would be safe.

When they finished at around 2 o'clock, they decided to take a break and rest. The digimon de-digivolved and ate a few more rations and drank what was left of the bottled water, replenishing their bodies as they rested, some even dozing off, seemingly unmoved by the prospect of facing what could be their most ferocious adversary yet.

Amanda and Mimi moved to the far side of the camp and began talking excitedly and, by the way they kept staring back at Ángel and giggling, it was pretty clear what they were talking about. Jin, Michael, and Ángel kept it pretty simple:

"So," Michael began, "did you kiss her?" He didn't want to blow his cover, so he asked, even though he knew the answer.

"Ah… y-yes," he replied.

"Did she taste like fish?" Jin asked.

"No," Ángel said. "No, she did not."

Jin raised a fist and bumped it with Ángel's. "Nice," he said.

And that was it. In the dwindling time before 3 o'clock, you would have sworn that they were merely a group of good friends out on a camping trip, not a care in the world.

But as soon as their watches read 3:00, the sound of slow, shuffling footsteps was heard from the woods. They looked in its direction and watched with increasing apprehension as Mr. Y emerged from the darkness, his hood only partially concealing his paper-white face, which now looked pitted and contorted, his eyes yellow and sinking back into his skull.

"Come, children," Mr. Y said, his breath now coming in horrible wheezes. With each pause, Mr. Y looked as though a momentary pain was on the verge of overtaking him. "The Ancient Enemy… awaits. I will take you to the meeting place… and there… we can all greet death together."

* * *

Vademon hurried to the prison unit as soon as he got the message. Getting around Full Metal City on his tentacle-like legs was proving difficult, especially with all the responsibilities the master had entrusted him with, so he'd constructed a small, saucer-shaped hovercraft, perfect for zipping around the city and completing his work in much less time. Still, that wasn't going to save him when he had to explain to Delgado that some of his most important projects were behind schedule. Oh, the D-Chamber was built, and that was good news, but then there was the Biological Agent Research, and that had hit a major snag. And then there was the Portal… working out the entanglement was proving difficult, but at least that was something that would be solved after another day or two of trial and error. The question was, would the master be patient, or would he blame Vademon for the delay? Vademon was doing his best to give the master as few reasons as possible for being angry upon his return, and now he just learned of a potentially major problem.

Vademon hovered into Andromon's cell, calling for lights to illuminate the darkened metal room. The shackles on the walls had been broken and there were dents and gouges in the walls, evidence of the struggle that had occurred when the guards had been overpowered. Andromon himself was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm sorry, Vademon, sir," a Bakemon said, cowering as Vademon's expression became one of barely-contained rage. "Apparently some of our forces were posing as double agents. They took our forces by surprise and liberated Andromon before escaping back into the city."

Vademon focused and tried to think quickly. This had only happened in the last half hour. They couldn't have gotten far. They must still be in the city.

"Captain, you are to organize squads to find and recapture Andromon immediately. On each squad, I want you to put at least one of your most trusted soldiers. If there are double agents in our midst, we must work to counteract any interference. I will begin scanning the surveillance footage to see if we can pinpoint where they might have gone. We must capture Andromon at all costs, Captain. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," the Bakemon said and hurriedly left the cell to follow his orders.

_"Vademon, sir?" _a voice crackled, coming through his hovercraft's communication system.

"I'm busy," he growled.

_"There's a… um, there's a guest at the Western Gate, sir. He is requesting entry. He says he was sent by the master, sir."_

Vademon sighed. This wasn't even one of his duties! "Did I not delegate someone to interrogate and check any new recruits? Have the Entry Officer transmit his findings to me and I'll provide clearance—"

_"Sir, that… that won't be possible. The new recruit just __**ate**__ the Entry Officer."_

Vademon blinked. "What sort of recruit is this?!" he demanded.

_"A very big one, sir. Please hurry,"_ the voice said, an edge of fear in his voice. _"He says he's hungry."_

* * *

Mr. Y led them through a winding path in the woods, through a meadow and curving around a hillside with blooming wildflowers. It might as well have been a nature hike, but nobody was really focusing on the beauty of the places they passed. The trip was taking longer than any of them expected and their apprehension was growing. It didn't help that Mr. Y was constantly wheezing as he walked, and it was growing worse as they went further. The exertion was starting to take its toll on his twisted, corrupted body.

"Um, are you all right?" Michael asked.

"No," Mr. Y replied.

"Isn't there something we can do for you?" Mimi asked, showing her concern even knowing that Mr. Y had now become a puppet for their nemesis.

"Your concern… is appreciated," Mr. Y said, seemingly genuine. "But there is nothing that can be done… Not for me… and not for you."

"You look like death warmed over," Jin remarked.

"Jin!" Mimi hissed.

"It's fine. He's… right, after all. Technically speaking, I am dead. Whatever I once was… the Ancient Enemy has destroyed. There remains only this… **decomposing** shell."

Mimi paused a moment, looking fearful until Palmon tapped her on the leg, reassuring her that she was not without protection. She continued walking as the group went down an incline and through some trees, finally coming out upon an open area.

"What the—?" Michael gasped.

"Wow," Amanda breathed. "This place is kinda cool!"

"No," Ángel said, shivering suddenly. "It is not."

Before them was what had once been a lake, but was now a dry lakebed. But stretched across it was a network of wooden docks and small, wooden buildings with thatch roofs. It was a city that stood completely on tall poles. It was easy to imagine it crisscrossing the water that had once filled the lake and to see that it had once been a bustling town with several stores and residences for digimon of all shapes and sizes. But now the water was gone, the sandy lakebed dry as a bone, and the buildings looked to be in disrepair. Holes had formed in the roofs and several wooden walkways were rotting and had begun to sag or had already collapsed to the ground below.

"What is this place, Mr. Y?" Michael asked.

"This is Old Partition," he replied. "The predecessor… of the city I once called home."

"Partition?" Amanda asked. "So, I guess a long time ago the digimon moved from here to the new city when the lake dried up. Am I right?"

"No," Mr. Y said.

Ángel held himself more tightly. "He is right. I… I can feel that something much worse happened here." He felt someone take his hand and looked over to see that it was Amanda. And then Muchomon flew up and perched on his shoulder, and even Jin came and gave him a pat on the back, and his apprehension began to disappear.

"Come on," Mr. Y said, and he began leading them down the narrow wooden walkway. "Step lightly. Some of the boards are rotten."

As if to punctuate this point, Mimi suddenly cried out as her foot went through a board and stumbled forward. Michael jumped and caught her, helping her to her feet.

"I warned you," Mr. Y said coldly.

He led them into a round building, the boarding on it a bit crude and asymmetrical, and stopped once they were inside. It was dark and musty, but they saw the remains of a few cots, the bedding still intact, and there were pitchers for water and a copper stove for cooking. It could have still been used, all it lacked was a resident.

"Look at the wall," Mr. Y said. And they saw a flag with a green symbol hung on the wall. It was a hand-painted symbol that resembled bird wings. It looked almost angelic, but Ángel shivered. Something was very wrong in this place. Whoever had lived here, they had left something of themselves behind.

"What is that?" Amanda asked, examining it more closely. "The flag for the town? Maybe an old nation's flag here on Folder?"

"It is the symbol… the Vaccine digimon used for themselves," Mr. Y answered. "Come."

They followed him out, deeper into the town, and came to another residence. But unlike the last one, this one had been wrecked, and half the building had been blasted away, the floor suddenly dropping off and out to the ground below. The bedding had been strewn, the stove missing entirely, and the pottery smashed.

"I smell something," Scarmon said, and with his snout to the ground, he moved to a corner of the room where he spied dark spots stained on the wall. "I knew it," he grunted. "Blood."

"What happened here?" Mimi asked, and now she began to feel a chill as well.

"Look well," Mr. Y said, and pointed to the wall. Another flag was there, but this time it was red, the symbol of a gnarled claw reaching upward upon it. But this time, a huge gash had been slashed diagonally, deliberately, across it.

"Virus," Jin surmised.

"Correct," Mr. Y said. "This was a home for a Virus type digimon. His neighbors rose up one night and murdered him."

"Murder?!" Michael exclaimed. "Why did they do that?"

Ángel sighed. "After seeing the new Partition, you really have to ask, Michael?" His teeth were gritted and his expression was one of disgust. "They murdered him _because_ he was a Virus."

Mr. Y nodded. "And he was not the only victim." He took them from the ruined hut across a larger walkway. While no water was present, suddenly a thin layer of mist and fog began to roll in, giving the place an eerie, foreboding look, driving home the feeling of it being a ghost town. Mr. Y pointed to a bridge that had a huge gap in it. It hadn't rotted away, it was simply gone.

"That bridge was the site of another battle… the bridge was destroyed and three digimon on it… fell into the water and drowned."

They all looked reflexively at the ground where the water would have been and each of them found themselves imagining the horrible scene. All, that is, except Ángel.

"I… I can hear them," he said, shivering. "I can hear them calling for help. And… the ones standing on the bridge are _laughing."_

"What?!" Mimi asked. "Are… are you sure? How can you hear them? And how could they do something so horrible?!"

"I do not know, but I am certain," he said. "They watched them while they drowned."

Mr. Y grunted. "Not surprising. It was… the nature of the city." He led them deeper into the town, this time through many winding walkways, through some buildings that were intact, others that were barely there at all, and wherever they went, they saw more of those green and red flags, and also a blue one which they learned was the symbol for the Data types. Soon it became clear that this was not one town, but a community that had been driven apart and turned in on itself.

"The old prejudices of the past… still haunt the present," Mr. Y said, his wheezing now very labored. "In the old times… the digimon of this town merely… tolerated each other. But when… a simple conflict caused a stir… things escalated… driving them to rise against… one another."

"What could have caused it?" Michael wondered aloud.

"It was the dam," Mr. Y wheezed.

"What was the dam problem?" Amanda asked. They all turned to her, staring coldly. "Just trying to lighten the mood, jeez."

"The village elders wanted… to use the dam that controlled the height of the lake… and reduce the water level… they feared a strong storm would cause a flood."

"That seems reasonable," Amanda said. "So, what was the problem?"

"Some aquatic digimon… an Octomon, several Gekkomon… and even some Betamon," here Betamon and Michael exchanged looks, "…protested the plan. They said… reducing the water gave them less room to… make their livelihoods… and it was a reduction of their territory… since they were aquatic."

"I know I'd feel pretty strongly about it too," Betamon said.

Penguinmon nodded. "I would too. We aquatic digimon appreciate having lots of room to move around in."

"At first… it was a minor dispute…" Mr. Y said, continuing his story. "But then… the elders went on with their plan anyway, reducing the water level… by a third. And then came… the retaliation. Those aquatic digimon… they blocked the dam, sabotaging it. The water level rose again… and the elders were furious. Because the aquatic digimon were all… by coincidence, Virus types… those who supported the elders focused on that… and then the Virus digimon, on principle… supported their own. It was no longer a minor issue… and from there, it was only one thing… after another. Until one day…"

Mr. Y trailed off and motioned for them to follow further. He had led them almost all the way across the town to the far side of the lakebed. And it was there they saw the remains of the dam.

It still stood, but there was now a massive hole in it.

"I… I can see them now!" Ángel cried suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Jin asked.

Ángel stared on fearfully. Translucent shapes, ghostly figures were now visible, blending in with the rolling mist that had engulfed the town. He could barely hear voices. Shouts, screams, and orders as they clashed with one another, their violent battle spreading through the walkways, into the water (or where the water once was) and finally to the dam itself. Atop the dam, one of them held up something, and Ángel wasn't sure at first what it was, but then it became clear as there was a flash and the echo of an explosion.

A bomb. The fight had turned so bloody that…

"I can see what happened," Ángel said. "It was so horrible… rather than surrender, one of the digimon used a bomb to destroy the dam. The water drained from the lake completely, and the town was ruined. And they… they still continued fighting!" His eyes went wide in horror as he saw images of the carnage begin to unfold, even though the others were unable to see it.

"Ángel!" Amanda cried, throwing her arms around him. "It's okay, just relax," she said, trying to soothe his fears. "We're here, don't worry."

Jin stepped forward put his hand on his shoulder, forcing him to focus on him. "That's right," he said. "We're here. That stuff you're seeing isn't real. Not anymore."

Presently, the vision began to dissipate and he managed to calm down. "All right," he said. "Thank you. I'm all right."

"If you're finished…" Mr. Y wheezed, "then I will take you to our **destination**."

* * *

They followed him around to a much larger building. It was near the center of town and it was big enough to hold a great many digimon at once. It clearly had been the Town Hall, or some other gathering place for the community. But the inside was smashed, and the tattered remains of all three flags littered the floor. Some battle had taken place here, and the floors creaked badly as they carefully stepped over the debris.

"The battles that tore Old Partition apart… they inflicted scars so deep that… even after the Digital World was reset after the time of… the Dark Masters… this place still stands. Vaccine against Virus, Virus against Data, and even Data against Vaccine… the three factions had such vitriol for each other… even now, nothing can heal the scars… The newer Partition was merely… repeating what had already occurred. It is for this reason, for its… timeless ugliness… that the Ancient Enemy chose this place." He took in a deep breath. "I have delivered you… into his hands… and now, at last, he will release me…"

At first, they didn't understand. But then his body began to convulse and shake. And then his limbs began to bulge, inflating like balloons and a dark, horrible energy crackled over him.

"Everyone, get out, _now!"_ Jin shouted, and they all dashed from the building. A few moments later, what had once been Mr. Y exploded in a black, violent inferno. The explosion obliterated the Town Hall and the weakened walkway collapsed as they ran across it, causing them all to crash roughly to the lakebed below.

As they got to their feet, they looked around, checking to see that they were all okay. Nobody appeared to be injured, but they were all shaken by the sudden, violent display.

"He… he just exploded," Mimi said quietly. "Why? Why did that happen?"

And then a new voice, clear as day, rang out over all of them: "Oh, well, you know how it is," it said, a hint of menace in his jovial tone, "I thought it'd be good to start things off… with a _bang."_

They looked around and finally saw a figure, black as night, his eyes glowing red, standing in the shadows under one of the buildings.

"It's him!" Amanda gasped.

Despite his growing fear, Michael stood up bravely. "Show yourself, you coward! You've been hiding from us long enough!"

"Hiding?" the figure asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "I haven't been hiding at all! In fact," and here he stepped from the shadows, and his form was one most of them recognized instantly, "I've already introduced myself."

"Mr. **Delgado**!" Mimi cried. "But what are you doing here?"

"Delgado?" Ángel asked. Then his eyes went hard. "No. That is not a man. That is our enemy. The Ancient Enemy."

"Wh-what?" Mimi stammered. "No, that's not possible! Ángel, he helped us before…"

"I think he's right, Mimi," Jin said. "The rest of us didn't want to say anything, and we needed some help to get to Mexico anyway, so we played dumb… but we knew there was something fishy about this guy not too long after we met him."

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you, Mimi," Michael said. "I just… we thought it was better—"

"They don't really trust you when it comes to _not_ trusting people, Mimi," Delgado said. "They don't think you can handle it."

Mimi looked stung by this. "No, no, Mimi, that's not it!" Michael protested. "We… we weren't totally sure what he was."

"Well, I never would have guessed that you were actually the guy we were looking for," Jin said. "We figured you must be some lackey. Who would have thought our enemy was just some dope in a goofy cowboy disguise?" He sneered at his foe, happy to throw some insults of his own after what he just said to Mimi.

Delgado didn't look fazed by the insult. He instead gestured to his denim clothes and cowboy hat with pride. "Call it goofy if you want, but I'm actually kind of attached to it. It was the first human form I ever took, after all."

"But why did you help us?" Amanda cried. "When those thugs in the bar came after us, why did you save us if you just wanted to destroy us?!"

"Save you?" Delgado asked. "Oh please, those rednecks were just ordinary townies without a care in the world. On any other day, they probably would have come to your rescue and taken you to Mexico. But then I showed up, and worked a little of my magic on their minds. You don't really think Texas is just filled with racist stereotypes waiting to jump a bunch of kids, do you?"

Amanda considered this. "I… guess not?"

"No, I made them behave that way so I could appear as your knight in denim armor," he said, and flashed a sly grin. "Y'all needed a ride, and I was pleased to give you one."

"But why didn't you just kill us?" Jin asked. "I don't get it. You seem like you've got power, you had us totally off guard… why didn't you just kill us when you had the chance?"

Delgado sighed. "Still don't understand a thing, do you? I didn't kill you because it wasn't time to kill you." But then his smile returned. "But now it is."

"This doesn't make any sense!" Mimi exclaimed. "We… I thought you were our friend! Why do we have to fight?"

"You've got a good heart, Mimi," Delgado said. "But think about this… you had a few dreams, a pint-sized pink ball came and told you to hunt me down, and without even knowing who I was, you all came here to kill me. And now you ask why we can't all just get along?"

"That's… no, it…" Mimi struggled to explain.

"Do not listen to him," Ángel said. "He is a monster. Tell us, Mr. 'Delgado,' if that's what you call yourself, if we turn around and leave you in peace, will you do no more harm to the world?"

"No," he replied. "I will accept your surrender and let you go for now… but then I will kill you, your worlds… and everyone you hold dear."

The five humans and digimon now stared at him, their gazes stony. Now they saw the monster hiding in that innocuous guise.

"So… Ángel is your name," Delgado murmured, eyeing him appreciatively. "The others don't get it, but you do. You understand better than anyone else that we are being pulled by the strings of Fate. We are puppets, mere slaves to the whims of **Destiny**. We will fight today because it was decided ages ago, and there is nothing to be done, but see where it leads us. It is my purpose, my one and only purpose, to seek you out, defeat you, and then bring ruination to all who live." He held up his hand and a dark, smoky energy began to rise from it. "Don't look so angry… it's not like any of us have any choice in the matter."

"Wait just a minute," Amanda said. "If you were fated to fight us, then why did you send the Eight Gods? They could have killed us."

"I knew they would fail. But I am forbidden to fight you until you reach your full strength. By sending you strong foes, I knew you would rise to the occasion and overcome them, gaining newfound power as you did. And now you've reached your peaks," and here he chuckled, "and it is so far removed from my power that I almost feel sorry for you." And now he gave a full blown laugh. "You don't stand a chance!"

"We'll see about that," Jin said, cracking his knuckles.

"Hold on, eager beaver," Delgado said, holding up one hand. "There are a few ground rules and it's part of the rules I'm bound by to explain them."

Amanda got out a notepad. The others looked at her. "What?" she said defensively. "Might come in handy, better take notes."

"Then listen well, teacher's pet," he continued. "Rule One: one battle decides the fate of the world. Rule Two: the Dark One – that's me – can only engage the Champions – that's you guys – once they reach the height of their strength. And finally, Rule Three: the Champions of the Five Virtues must comprehend the Dark One's nature and their Virtues must shine."

"And what does _that_ mean?" Amanda asked, irritated by all the cryptic talk.

"Well, let's see if you can all figure it out," Delgado replied, an insufferable smugness in his voice. "But I doubt it. You really don't have what it takes." And now his gaze was cruel, piercing, and stony. "I've seen what you're made of. You're weak little creatures who need your digimon partners to protect you."

"Is that right?" Michael scoffed.

"Oh, you ought to know that better than anyone," Delgado said, and his form suddenly began to shift, changing to one that caused Michael's eyes to go wide. "Hello, _son."_

There before them, no longer taking the form of Jim Delgado, stood Michael Washington, Sr., Michael's father. "Living the life of luxury has made you soft, son," he said. "I keep hoping one of these days you'll become a man. But all you care about is the violin, polo, and a bunch of the other stuff these bluebloods call living. It's my fault, though. My success in Hollywood made me want to give you every advantage, but now I don't understand a thing you do. I keep hoping you'll be more manly, instead of the wispy little thing you are…"

Michael turned red and looked down and the others suspected that this was something that he had really heard before.

"That's why you put on the whole white knight act," Mr. Washington said. "The whole Dudley Do-Right thing you put on for show… I know it's because you're trying to be the man I wish I'd raised. The girls you meet may like it, but that will only get you so far."

"Enough!" Michael shouted. "You're not my father and I'm not going to stand here and listen to you tell me how to live my life!"

"That's right!" Mimi chimed in. "Michael's not just some… some 'white knight,' he's a really brave guy!"

"And that's just the kind of guy I need!" said Mr. Washington, but now his voice was high-pitched and girly. And then his body shifted form to that of Mimi herself, dressed in a particularly gaudy and skimpy outfit. Mimi turned bright red.

"That's… what are you—"

"I sure am glad I have good friends who will do everything for me," Fake Mimi said. "And it's _great_ having guys trip over themselves to help me out. I know what they're _really_ after, of course," she said. And then, in an instant, she zipped over and was among them, to their surprise, and she pressed up against Michael, drawing a finger down the side of his face seductively. "Even the supposed gentlemen," she said, winking at him.

"M-Michael?" Mimi stammered.

"N-no, Mimi, that's not—"

"I decided just when summer vacation started that I would only date a guy who really appreciates me," Fake Mimi said, skipping away cheerfully, "but what's to appreciate? I'm a sweet little princess with a face to die for. Amanda's right, it's not like I have to think for myself! I can just sit back and rely on others."

"Mimi, don't listen to him! Or her! Whatever!" Amanda said. "I… I said that when I was angry, you're not really like that."

"No… No, I'm not," Mimi said, but she still looked down, and she wore a wounded expression, as though on the verge of tears.

"Could be worse, though," and this was a new voice, and a new face as Delgado shifted form again. "At least people like her. Unlike some others I could mention."

Amanda froze, reluctantly turning around to face this new speaker. "No, that's… no, not…"

"Remember me, geek?" the girl said. She was a younger girl, dressed in modest, but fashionable clothes. Her face was pretty, her hair blonde, and her expression was cruel and mocking. "You remember me, don't you?"

"Tara," Amanda whispered. "She's a girl back in Roxanne. She—"

"You call me a bully, but I'm just reminding you of your place, Amanda Fabienne Giroux," she said. "Remember what I told you? No matter what, even if you're some kind of hero, even if you have a digimon partner, even with all your brains, all it does is make you a _freak._ You'll always be weird and you'll never be able to keep friends for long. Because, let's be honest, you're too much of a perverted otaku outcast to ever fit in. You will never, _ever_ be normal."

"No!" Amanda shrieked. "That's not true, that's—"

"Don't listen to him, Amanda," Ángel said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "He is preying on your old wounds, but you have proven that you do have a place. And it is here, with us."

"Yeah, cute tricks," Jin laughed. "You'll have to do a lot better than that if you want to get under our skin."

"That right?" Delgado asked. "That's pretty big talk coming from you, Jin Takamura, bearer of the Crest of Rage." He laughed, resuming his more familiar form. "Your friends may have forgiven you for your past, but even they don't comprehend how many digimon you've personally butchered. The lives you've taken. But I know the driving anger that fuels you. You aren't like these others… your true nature is something to be feared, but you've shunned it, caged it, and bound it with chains." He grinned knowingly. "But I know how to bring it out."

And he shifted form again and the confidence on Jin's face was gone in an instant. "No…"

"Jin Takamura," the new figure said, "shame on you!"

"No no no no…"

The woman who stood before them wasn't very old, only in her early- to mid-thirties, if that, with tired gray eyes that resembled Jin's, and long, straight black hair drawn into a ponytail. She was tall and thin, and her disdainful expression cut right to Jin's core.

"You always did bad things, and I tried my best to raise you right on my own," the woman said. "But you kept misbehaving, so I tried to make you do things that were for your own good. But the more I tried, the more you hated me for it."

"Jin?" Ángel asked. "Is… is that your mother?"

"No… no, it can't be…" he breathed. But it was. It had been so long since he had seen her, but there she was, her face, her expressions, her voice, all perfect. His eyes began to fill with tears. "Stop," he said.

"I even sent you to that summer camp, spending more money than I really should have, hoping you might make some friends and stop playing those card games, stop hanging around with those older kids, those Yakuza wannabes, and stop fighting all the time. But you ran away… ran away just like your father, leaving me alone." And now her face became more gaunt and she staggered forward, her complexion growing pale, her eyes mournful. "Left me alone. I didn't even want to continue, so when I got sick, I just decided to stop fighting it…"

"Stop it—"

She looked upward, eyes unfocused as her body became ever more emaciated. "Where is he? Where is my lost little boy?"

_"Stop using her voice!"_ he shouted and charged at her. His friends all had to hold him back, but even then his strength was such that they could barely hold him as he reached for her. The crest around his neck glowed brightly with a burning red color.

"Jin!" Scarmon cried, feeling the sudden power as it began to rush into his body. He had to resist its power, for he knew that if he digivolved, he'd be out of control. Nobody could withstand that much rage powering them. "Jin, stop!"

Ángel grabbed him, holding his face and forcing him to look at him in the eyes. "Jin, listen to us! Listen to me! Do not let him control you!" he shouted.

"That bastard! He—"

"I know, I know, he used your mother's voice and appearance," he said, his tone softening. "He has violated her memory in an effort to make you lose control. But if you do lose control, you're only giving him what he wants."

Jin snarled like a wild animal, but then presently began to calm down, seeing his friends at his side, all desperately trying to hold him back to stop him from charging forward recklessly. He remembered them, seeing the desperation on their faces, and gradually managed to wrestle his rage back under control. His crest eventually began to dim until it finally grew dark.

Still in the form of Jin's mother, Delgado began to laugh, the feminine voice of his late mother eventually changing as he reverted to his guise as the cowboy Jim Delgado, changing to a hollow, ringing laughter. "Hahahahaha! Oh, you kids are too much!" he said. "I really haven't had so much fun in a long time. I wish I could tease and bully you for a lot longer, but I've got a schedule to keep." He sighed. "Well, maybe I can torture a few of you for a while after I've crushed your little hopes and dreams, but for now, we should get down to business."

"Wait, what about me?" Ángel asked. "You have tried your best to undermine my friends' confidence, but your schoolyard taunts will not stop us. So, do you have anything for me?"

"Eager, aren't you?" Delgado asked. "Well, I do have something for you, but it can wait." He pointed at him and wore an expression that was surprisingly grim compared to the devilish mirth he'd displayed up until now. "You're special, my young friend. You really aren't like your friends. I had the hardest time figuring you out, and I know it has something to do with that ability of yours. It won't do you a bit of good in the end, but a special case like yours deserves… special treatment."

"What does that mean?"

"You'll see," Delgado said. "But enough messing around." He spread his arms wide. "Let's enjoy this fight, Digidestined. Come at me with everything you've got!"

"About time!" Scarmon exclaimed. "Let's do this!"

A few moments later, standing before Delgado were Quemamon, Freezedramon, and Lilymon. They all began to glow, harmonizing with each other and their partners. The whole world seemed to freeze, and the three powerful digimon towered over their much smaller, human-sized foe.

"Not too shabby," he said. "But not good enough. Let's make this interesting." He folded his arms and closed his eyes. "I'll be extra nice today and give you a 60 second head start."

"What?" Lilymon cried. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm already counting, you know," Delgado said, keeping his eyes closed.

"Well, I won't turn down a free hit," Quemamon said. "Take him down!"

They all rushed him, Lilymon aiming a Flower Cannon blast at him, followed by direct hit of Quemamon's plasma column. Freezedramon reared back and let loose his mighty Breath of the Winter God attack, filling the whole area with a cloud of ice and snow. They all stood back to see how much harm had been done, but when the debris, snow, and smoke cleared, Delgado stood there, totally unmoved, still counting quietly to himself. He nodded as he did so, and looked so still that he might as well have dozed off.

"32… 31… 30…"

"Oh you cocky—" Quemamon sprinted forward, winding up for the most powerful punch he could manage, swinging at him and colliding his massive fist with Delgado's jaw so hard that the sound echoed throughout the lakebed. But no sooner had he struck the blow than he had to pull his hand back, grasping it in pain. "What the…" It felt like he had punched a steel wall. Worse, actually, because he was pretty sure he could dent a steel wall. But Delgado didn't even flinch.

_"Plasma Column!"_ he attacked, this time blasting green plasma at him at point-blank range. The flames washed over him, engulfing him completely. But again, when the smoke cleared, even though the ground all around him had been obliterated, Delgado himself was totally unharmed.

"10… 9… 8…"

"He can't possibly keep this up!" Lilymon shouted, and zipped behind him, pressing her Flower Cannon into the back of his head, firing it and flying black from the blast.

"3… 2… 1…"

Delgado turned, looking at Lilymon with contempt. "You really thought that would work?"

Lilymon's speed was amazing, however, as she quickly darted back, moving around in the air to where she was nearly impossible to follow. Delgado's eyes watched her as if he were a cat watching a bird in the yard.

"You're pretty fast," Delgado said. "Let's see…"

And then, in an instant, he was in the air, springing from his spot and seizing Lilymon by the wrist, getting a cry of pain from her as he crushed her arm in an iron grip. "There you are," he said, and his eyes began to glow red. "You'll be the first to experience my power."

"Lilymon!" Mimi screamed.

Delgado pulled his arm back and a black energy formed in a concentrated ball around his fist. _"Path of Destruction!"_

The attack was a massive, wide beam of pure, midnight black energy. It tore through the air, creating a sudden roar like thunder that left all their ears ringing. But poor Lilymon was caught in this blast, tearing her wings, her body and blasting her back, high into the air. When they all looked back, it was not Lilymon anymore, but Tanemon, Palmon's In-Training form, that was tumbling back to the ground. Mimi rushed out and managed to catch her.

"Tanemon!" she screamed. "Tanemon! Oh my god, what did he do to you?!"

Even though she had de-digivolved to avoid deletion, her form still looked singed and chlorophyll bled from her wounds. She was unconscious and Mimi couldn't seem to bring her around.

"How dare you!" Freezedramon bellowed. _"Ice Scales!"_

The razor-sharp blades of ice flew down at Delgado. With a simple, almost casual gesture, he backhanded the blades away with nothing but his arm. He chuckled, clearly amused at the useless attack. "Flowers, a few icicles… is that really all you have?" he asked. And again he sprang into the air, this time seizing Freezedramon by the nose using only his tiny, human-sized hand. "You will be brought low," he hissed, and with unbelievable, unforeseen strength, he _threw_ the massive ice dragon to the ground. Freezedramon hurriedly got to his feet, but Delgado was already back in front him.

_His speed… his power… it's incredible…_ Freezedramon thought, and even he began to feel a chill as he stared into his glowing red eyes.

"Dead with a touch, Freezedramon," Delgado whispered. _"Child of Rage!"_

Rather than the massive, roaring Path of Destruction attack he used on Lilymon, this was much smaller. A single dot of black energy lit on the tip of his finger as he touched it to Freezedramon's nose. At first, it seemed to do nothing, but then the black energy spread over his whole body, engulfing him with a low, ominous humming. The sound began to increase and he howled in pain as every inch of him was suddenly burning in agony. The sound of the attack and his howl both intensified until finally his whole body simply _exploded_ in an icy eruption.

"Betamon!"

_"Penguinmon!"_

To Michael and Amanda's relief, Betamon and Penguinmon were lying on their backs, breathing, albeit shallowly, where Freezedramon had been a moment later.

Delgado turned to Quemamon. "Well, tough guy?" he asked. "You think you've got what it takes to take me down?" He rolled up his sleeves and held up his fists like an old-timey boxer.

"You don't scare me," Quemamon said, readying himself.

"Don't bother lying to a guy who can see what's in your heart, Quemamon." Delgado was there in an instant, the punch delivered to Quemamon's ribs there and gone so fast that nobody even saw the blow. But a second later as Quemamon gasped for breath and felt his chest on fire, he knew at once that he had already lost. And it was true, no matter what he'd said… he really was afraid.

"Aw, poor guy," Delgado said, frowning in mock sympathy. "I bet that really hurt. I should give you a break." A second later, before Quemamon could react, Delgado had seized his left arm. "Here's one," he said, and simply snapped the bone in his arm. Quemamon screamed in pain as Delgado released him, but a moment later he seized the other arm, breaking it, then his left leg, then his right leg. Quemamon was left in a heap, his limbs broken, his chest on fire, and Delgado standing over him, a dry, horrible laugh escaping his throat. He began to float, levitating into the air, dark energy swirling around his body like some dark messiah or fallen angel.

"Oh boy, now that was really **disappointing**," he said. "Don't get me wrong, I love suffering, and I really could hurt you all day, but I expected at least a little more resistance out of you. Well, might as well finish this one-round knockout."

The others watched in horror as Delgado grabbed Quemamon by the throat and simply flung him into one of the wooden buildings, smashing it to pieces as he collided with it. But he wasn't finished yet, and strolled over to where Quemamon was lying, barely breathing, and pulled him out by the tail.

"And start the countdown!" Delgado laughed. He pulled Quemamon up by the tail and smashed him into the ground. "One!" He did it a second time. "Two!" A final time was enough to finally, mercifully, cause Quemamon to de-digivolve, separating into Scarmon and Muchomon. "And three! Ding ding ding, that's it, that's the round, it's all over!" He laughed long and hard. The insane, gibbering quality of it chilled them to the bone. This horrible monster had just savagely cut their partners down and was laughing as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"No…" Ángel said, staring in disbelief. "No, this… this isn't what was supposed to happen…"

"Oh man, I just realized something," Delgado said, pausing from his laughter, removing his cowboy hat to scratch his head somewhat abashedly. "You know what? I forgot to show y'all my best attack! It's a real doozy. You'll probably want a nice wide view for it, though."

He stooped and picked up the barely conscious Scarmon and Muchomon, zipping over and handing them casually Jin and Ángel before returning to his spot.

"Now, children," he said, straightening his body and pointing directly at the sky, "keep your eye on the birdy!" And then dark energy began to pour from his body in long, rope-like strands, arching upward and twisting into a helix as they met at a point high above them. Gradually, they began to pour into a concentrated, perfectly round, black sphere. It grew slowly, looking like a black star in the sky, then gradually it became larger, rounder, and more ominous.

Jin's eyes went wide as he began to understand what was really happening. "Run!" he shouted. "Everyone turn and run, he's going to **detonate** that thing!"

They all did as he said and took off running for the far end of the lakebed, beyond the wooden structures, weaving through the wooden poles that supported the huts and the walkways. But then Jin looked and saw that Ángel wasn't among them. When he looked back, he saw that the boy was still back where they started, as if rooted to the spot.

_"Ángel, move!"_ Jin screamed, but his friend either didn't hear or was ignoring him. "Ah, dammit," Jin swore, and ran back to him. When he found him, he was still murmuring to himself.

"No," he said. _"No es posible," _he murmured.

"Run!"

"Jin… this was not our destiny… it—"

"I said run, stupid!" he shouted, shaking the boy from his stupor. At last Ángel realized what was going on and, carrying Muchomon under one arm, joined Jin as they both ran from the area. But now the black sphere above them was getting much larger, nearly two meters in diameter, and Delgado's expression changed to one of barely contained glee as he watched the two boys desperately trying to escape. At the far end of the lakebed, Mimi, Michael, and Amanda scrambled up the steep, sandy sides of the former lake and made for the woods.

"That's far enough," Delgado said to himself. "Time to let them have it." He dropped his arm and his voice echoed out as he called the name of his final attack.

_"BIRTH OF SUFFERING!" _he shouted, his voice taking on the unearthly quality of the horrible abomination he truly was under his humanoid guise. The black sphere fell to the ground, and when it collided it let loose all its energy, exploding outward with tremendous power.

The sound of the explosion and the shockwave rocked the whole area, tearing apart the ruins of Old Partition and sending the wood, rock, and sand high into the air. In the woods, Mimi, Amanda, and Michael all dove for cover as debris began to rain down upon them even at that distance. Jin and Ángel, who hadn't as much time to escape, were blown off their feet, thrown into the air in different directions as they were launched out the side of the lakebed and thrown into the woods, the smoldering cloud of destruction towering high above them.

Back at the epicenter of the explosion, Delgado dusted himself off. "Ashes to ashes, dust to **dust**," he said, floating up to survey his work. "Not too shabby for such a weak blast," he said. "Well, time to find the choir boy and give him his present."

He grinned. He'd been waiting for this for a long time.

* * *

Muchomon coughed. He was covered in a layer of dust and he'd landed in a clearing among several trees. At once, his thoughts went to his partner. "Ángel," he breathed. Then he called his name a little louder. _"Ángel, dónde estás?"_ He didn't see him at first, but he managed to muster enough strength to flap his little wings and take to the air. He saw his friend under several planks of wood and landed near him to begin clearing them from his body.

"Don't worry, Ángel," Muchomon said. "I will always protect you."

"Ugh… Muchomon… is that you?"

"Yes. Don't worry. Everything is going to be all right."

A cruel laugh cut through the air. Ángel was still too stunned to hear it, but Muchomon recognized it instantly and turned to face his enemy. Delgado floated down from the air, landing as gently as a snowflake before the tiny Rookie.

"What do you want, you monster?" Muchomon demanded.

"Death, destruction," he paused, considering the question for a moment longer. "A pony for my birthday."

"You think you're funny, don't you?" Muchomon said sternly.

"My time among humans has taught me a lot about what's funny. And the funniest thing of all, I've learned," he beamed, his eyes glowing red in the shadow of his hat, "is the suffering of others. A slip on the banana peel, a tack on the chair, or maybe just watching a loved one die."

"Get away from him!" Muchomon screamed, flying up into Delgado's face. _"Ardent Flame!"_ he shouted, breathing a blast of fire into his face.

The attack, of course, did absolutely nothing. "Cute," Delgado said. "But I wasn't talking about him." He seized Muchomon by the neck, holding him up roughly.

"Ugh… M-Muchomon?" Ángel murmured. He coughed and turned over, finally seeing Delgado standing there. His eyes went wide, but then he gasped when he saw that he held Muchomon in his grip. "Muchomon!"

"I think I already told you," Delgado said, "to watch the birdie. Are you watching?"

"Let him go!" Ángel cried. "Please, he cannot hurt you!"

"I don't suppose he can," Delgado said. "Really not even worth the trouble of deleting."

"Ángel…" Muchomon croaked, barely able to breathe in the vicelike grip of Delgado's hand. "Don't look, my friend. _Salvate._ Save yourself…"

"Please…" Ángel begged, the tears running from his eyes. "Please do not hurt him…"

Delgado sighed. "Really, such a pathetic display. Fine. I won't hurt him." He released Muchomon and the little bird gasped and flew down toward Ángel's outstretched arms.

"Muchomon," Ángel breathed.

A sudden motion, a blur, and Delgado's hand sliced through the air, striking Muchomon in the back, his eyes suddenly going wide for a split second before the little red bird merely vanished in an explosion of data.

Ángel stared on in frozen horror as a few red feathers floated down into his hand.

"I'm a man of my word," Delgado said, and a cruel smile spread across his face. "I didn't hurt him. I gave him a totally painless death."

A sob escaped Ángel as he clutched the feathers of his fallen partner and he collapsed on the ground.

* * *

Elsewhere, Scarmon had managed to regain consciousness and was walking on wobbly legs, trying to find his partner. He'd already located Mimi, Palmon, Michael, and all the others, but Jin, Ángel, and Muchomon were still unaccounted for. He took a few steps when suddenly he felt a terrible shock, some horrible, cold sensation that momentarily froze him to the spot and robbed him of breath. He collapsed to the ground and felt as though something, something that had become part of his very being, simply _vanished_ from him.

"Scarmon!" Palmon cried. "Scarmon, are you all right?"

The little black lizard stood again. "No," he hissed. "Something… I think something just happened…"

"What?"

Scarmon didn't answer directly, but stared at her. "We need to find Jin and Ángel _right now."_

* * *

"Well, with that, the game is over," Delgado said. "Really, kind of a letdown."

"You monster…" he sobbed. "How could you…?"

"Hey, in order to beat me, all five Virtues need to be present. I know you really have no idea what I'm talking about, but why take chances? Without your digimon, you're down a fighter, and so your Virtue, whatever it is, is powerless without it."

Ángel didn't respond, but he sucked in a breath, trying his best not to cry in front of this horrible monster, knowing he'd just enjoy it.

"Well, the world is doomed, you failed, but good try, kid," he said. "I mean… not really. Kind of a waste, but hey, at least you can enjoy the ride. I'm letting you and your friends live so you can enjoy watching the end of the world together. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity, when you think about it."

Ángel said nothing.

"Good Goddramon you're boring," Delgado sighed. "Well, it's been real, choir boy. _Adiós."_

"It is not over," Ángel whispered.

"Uh, I beg to differ," Delgado said, turning to go.

"My partner is a digimon, and so he will be reborn."

"Oh, what, you're going to travel to the ends of the Digital World? You can't use the Digiports to get around, it'll take you weeks to get to Primary Village, and by that time it'll be far, far too late. I beat you, now just accept it."

"I will find a way. We will come back, and we will defeat you."

Delgado froze and turned back to him. "The fight is over. This was all determined a long time ago. You are humanity's representative saviors and you _lost._ Accept it."

"No," Ángel said, getting to his feet. "I will find a way with my friends. We will never give up, even across the Earth, the Digital World, Heaven, and Hell. I will be reunited with my partner, we will defeat you, and I will return to my family, my village, and the world will be saved."

Delgado raised an eyebrow. "What village?"

"My village. Rosa Blanca. I was chosen by God to—"

"Rosa Blanca… oh, oh yeah, that's right, there _was_ a village by that name!" he said, snapping his fingers. "Well, there was… about a week ago."

Ángel blinked. "What? No, it is still—"

"Yeah, yeah, tiny little ramshackle shanty town just outside Nuevo Laredo. Home to a bunch of dirt poor slobs, tiny church, managed to buy a computer… that one?"

Ángel's eyes went wide. He knew of it. But how?

"You have seen my memories," Ángel said, though a pit of dread began to build in his stomach.

"See, in your case, Ángel Dominguez, it wasn't that simple," Delgado said. "The others, I knew who they were, and they learned of me in their dreams. But you… well, you were a big mystery. I had no idea where you were. I tried to narrow it down, but something about that ability of yours kept me locked out. I had to get closer to get a lock on you. Frustrating, really, to not be able to find my true nemesis. You alone understood the magnitude of your responsibility and you alone had the power to penetrate into my dark mind. But you don't get to be the enemy of all who live without using your brain once in a while, so I put myself in the path of your little friends. They thought I was giving them a ride, but actually they led me straight to you." He turned his head and smiled cruelly. "Ain't that right, Jin?"

Ángel turned and saw Jin, battered and bruised, standing a short distance away. His looks were pale and he stared at Ángel desperately. "I… I didn't know. I'm sorry—"

"So," Delgado said, interrupting him, "once your little buddy over there got me close enough, it was just a matter of locking on to your position, making my way up the mountains and then," his grin became toothier, like that of a shark, no longer resembling that of a human at all, "I tore through your little village like a tornado. Do you want to see, Ángel Dominguez? Just look inside my mind."

Ángel couldn't stop himself. He had to see, to make sure this monster wasn't lying, and so he stared at him, plunging into the depths of his twisted mind. And he saw the little shanty town buildings smashed and burning. The corpses littering the center of town. A flash of his mother's face. His father's scream. And then his little brother calling out for him, again and again as a shadow fell over him, _"Ángel! Hermano, ayúdame! Ayúdame por favor!"_

An anguished cry rose from his throat as the grief overtook him. Jin rushed over to him. "Ángel!" he shouted. "It's a trick, it has to be!"

"It isn't," Delgado said. "He knows it now. His home, his family, everything he holds dear is gone."

Ángel stared forward, suddenly silent. He began to walk forward, toward Delgado with deliberate determination.

"Ángel, don't!" Jin pleaded, trying to hold him back. "I'm so sorry, I wish I could take it back, but your mother made me promise… I have to protect you, so don't do this!"

"Oh shut up," Delgado said, seizing Jin by his collar and tossing him over his shoulder like a ragdoll. He flew through the air and landed harshly, sliding back down the side of the lakebed. The pain wracked his body, but he dug his fingers into the sand and slowly began crawling back up the side of the embankment.

"Well, choir boy, got anything else to say?" Delgado asked. "I'm all ears if you do."

"You can destroy my life," he said. "But you can never destroy what I carry with me."

Delgado frowned. "You worthless little brat," he hissed. "I've beaten you. You failed in your mission, you have lost everything, so give in to your hopelessness. Give in to **despair**."

"I have seen what you have in your heart," Ángel said. "It is empty, save for one thing. And now that I see it, you cannot hide from the light anymore."

Delgado suddenly felt something creeping down the length of his body. And he watched as suddenly, Ángel Dominguez's eyes began to glow with a curious white light. And then his body itself began to glow and something approaching true fear crept into his mind. There was a sharp, stabbing pain in his eye and he felt his image, the outward disguise he wore as a protective layer, begin to **dissipate** and peel back, revealing the shadows underneath, his blood-red eye staring out in wide horror.

"I know what you truly are," Ángel laughed. "You poor creature. You are—"

Delgado raised his arm, leveling it right at the boy. Ángel saw this happen in slow motion and knew what was about to happen. Behind Delgado, Jin edged his way to the top of the embankment and his eyes went wide as he stared at his friend, now glowing, as he stared down the demonic creature before him. In the back of his mind, he recited a short prayer:

_Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our __**death**__. Amen._

_ "Path of Destruction!"_ Delgado hissed.

_"NO!"_ Jin shouted, but his scream was cut off by the thunderous sound of Delgado's attack. It shot forward, totally engulfing the boy who stood there, creating a shockwave that forced Jin back to the ground. When it cleared, there was no boy there any longer, and a deep gouge had been carved into the earth.

Staring on in disbelief, he got to his feet, a sickness in his heart he had never felt before. And then he felt a dark presence behind him and he turned around. Delgado towered over him, one eye missing, revealing the swirling blackness just under his skin and the inhuman red eye that glowed dully at him. Then the wound began to heal, covering itself up and repairing Delgado's visage. He stared at Jin with utter disdain, all of his dark humor gone.

"His suffering is over," the Dark One growled, pointing at him deliberately. "He could have walked away, but he chose to keep coming. He chose his own **demise**. But I wanted him to linger in his grief, to suffer a while longer. You, Jin Takamura… I'm not finished with you, or your friends, just yet. Remember that."

Jin stared on, frozen in horror, unable to even react to this threat as Delgado stepped backward, a mass of dark energy engulfing him as he entered it and teleported away.

He continued to stand there, the magnitude of everything that had happened washing over him. After a time, he heard voices approaching him and soon his friends were on the scene.

"Jin!" Mimi cried. "Thank goodness you're all right! We heard those sounds and came running!"

"This place is a mess," Michael said, looking over the debris and the huge gouge where Delgado's attack had hit.

Scarmon sniffed the air and raised his hackles. "Oh no," he murmured. "Jin…"

Amanda looked over the area. "Jin, have you seen Ángel?" she asked.

Jin didn't reply and at first Amanda thought he hadn't heard.

"Jin?" Still no reply. A sudden dread crept into her heart. _"Jin,"_ she said again. "Please tell me. Where's Ángel?"

Jin Takamura turned around and the others were shocked to see tears were rolling down his cheeks. He sucked in a deep breath and finally gave his answer:

"He didn't make it."

**To be continued…**

* * *

_*Translation Note: "Ángel, you are my dear one. I'm so happy we're together. I hope it will always be like this..."  
_


	20. Victims

**Chapter Nineteen:**

**Victims**

* * *

Normally, Michael would have enjoyed the feeling of Mimi's closeness. The feel of her hair, the way she gripped his shoulders, just her _presence_ would have been enough to make him happy. But not now, not when she was crying on his shoulder, and not when he himself felt such a shock, such a _numbness_ that he couldn't even hold her or comfort her.

_He didn't make it._

Those words were just hanging in the air. He simply couldn't process them, couldn't fathom what they meant. They'd had deadly encounter after deadly encounter, survived attacks by gigantic monsters and falling from the clouds, been held hostage and seen hordes of twisted, undead digimon lunging for them. They'd had trials on their emotions and taxed their bodies and after all that it seemed they were unbeatable, unstoppable. As apprehensive as he had been about this battle against the Ancient Enemy, deep in his heart he had never imagined that they would _lose._

And so he stood there, the girl who had captured his heart crying on his shoulder; Jin standing there, the powerful, often stern-faced boy now looking more sorrowful and heartbroken than he would have ever thought possible; and Amanda… she was trembling, staring at Jin in disbelief, and despite Jin's insistence, she just kept saying the same thing over and over again:

"No."

"I'm sorry, Amanda," Jin said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"No, you're lying!"

"I am not lying, I—"

"Then you're just _wrong!"_ she screamed, her face holding back whatever mix of emotions were threatening to overtake her. "It's impossible!"

"I arrived too late to see what happened to Muchomon," Jin said. "But Ángel… h-he was holding some of his feathers. And I…" he took a deep breath, bracing himself, "I saw what happened to Ángel. I'm sorry, Amanda, but I watched it happen."

Mimi sobbed louder and finally Michael was brought enough out of his stupor to actually place his hand on her back, unsure of how he could even begin to comfort her. And slowly, slowly, his own sorrow began to creep in.

But he sucked in a deep breath and did not cry. He had to be strong even while the others broke down. Palmon, herself crying, was at Mimi's leg, desperately repeating that things would be okay, whatever that meant. Penguinmon and Scarmon were both looking at the gouge in the earth where Delgado had aimed his attack. And Betamon was just sitting there, looking from face to face, not sure what to do next. And Michael knew exactly how he felt.

But someone needed to be the strong one now, he told himself. So that's what he did… no crying. He'd be there for the others if they needed him.

"You don't know what you saw!" Amanda cried out, and Jin winced at the sudden sharpness of her voice, a terrible, plaintive _crack_ in it betraying the sorrow behind her denial. "He… he might still be around here! He might have been hurt, but I'm sure someone like Ángel would… well, he'd get out of the way!"

"I saw him!" Jin shot back, suddenly angry in the face of Amanda's accusations. "He was standing right there," he said, pointing at the gouge, "when Delgado fired his attack at him. I saw it hit him and… and then there was nothing there. I saw him die, Amanda!" And he added, softly, as he lost his momentary anger, "I'm sorry."

"You… you might still be wrong! Until I have evidence—"

"Amanda, stop," Scarmon said, breaking his silence. "I didn't want to say this, but you know my sense of smell is powerful. There's the scent of shattered data here, and then Muchomon's scent stops. So I'm sure that Jin's right that Muchomon is… that's he's gone." He shuddered suddenly and the other digimon were surprised to see how tired, how _wounded_ he looked. "And here, where the energy dug into the ground… I can smell Ángel's scent. He was standing right here," and here he stood right where the path of the dark energy had shot forth, "and then the smell stops. And there's… there's this burning smell."

"Scarmon!" Jin cried, looking over to Amanda, whose knees suddenly buckled. "You don't have to—"

"She's gotta hear it, Jin, or she won't believe it. It happened fast, though, he probably didn't feel much, if anything." He motioned Penguinmon over. "I know you still have a decent nose, Penguinmon. Go on. Tell her."

Penguinmon reluctantly sniffed the air and turned to his partner, his heart heavy as he nodded to her. "I'm sorry, Amanda, but… he's right," he said. "There's no doubt about it. Ángel was right here when the attack hit him. I'm so sorry, but there's no mistake at all. He's dead."

_"No!"_ she shrieked, and collapsed to her knees. "No, no, no! He's… he's not…" But she could no longer finish her sentence, could no longer speak, for now the tears came, and the great heaving sobs. Penguinmon made his way to her and she instantly scooped him up, hugging him tightly as she simply cried and cried, occasionally calling out Ángel's name as she did.

"It's okay," Palmon told Mimi.

"It's okay," Penguinmon told Amanda.

Michael and Jin exchanged looks. Though Michael managed to keep his composure and Jin was managing to hold back most of his own tears, both of them understood in an instant that even if everyone kept saying "It's okay," deep down, they knew that it simply wasn't. Nothing was okay, and Michael even began to fear that perhaps nothing would ever be okay again.

* * *

Vademon parked his personal saucer at the Mainframe Tower, a large building at the center of Full Metal City. The Dark One had made it his personal base of operations. It connected to the control tower, where the newly-established D-Chamber was built, and to the Research and Development Labs, where he had just finished gathering information for his report. The tower was mostly housing for some of his top soldiers, but the top three floors were off limits to anyone who did not have express permission from the Master to enter. The eighteenth floor was empty, simply a buffer between everything below, and everything above. The nineteenth floor housed a few large rooms, refurbished at the master's request to be more like penthouse suites in a hotel, with comfortable furniture and red carpets. Although he had specified they have strong locks placed there, for some reason. Nobody lived there now, but Vademon suspected that Delgado would bring some _special_ guest there eventually, and the luxuriousness of the lodging would only be a small comfort to whomever Delgado called a "guest."

That left the top floor, the twentieth, where the Dark One, the being who called himself Delgado, had his office. Vademon was the only one who had ever been called up there, and it was only accessible by elevator. The top floor was round, disc-shaped, and gave a panoramic view of Full Metal City through its darkly-tinted windows. The last time Vademon paid a visit, Delgado was sitting in a huge leather chair, practically a throne, at a wide desk, pouring over papers and photographs. File cabinets, computers, and all manner of information were strewn all over the room, giving it a messy, cluttered feel. At that time, Delgado had been eagerly looking over the information, giddily calculating his next move. Vademon had no idea what the Dark One was planning, but he'd delivered his report to a somewhat distracted Delgado, then left to continue his own assignments.

But this time, Delgado had arrived suddenly, back from his business on Folder, and simply called Vademon up.

_"Report,"_ Delgado had growled over the communicator.

"On what, Master?" Vademon asked.

_"On whatever you _have_ to report!"_ he snarled. Vademon felt a chill run down his spineless back. The Dark One was known to kill anyone who delivered bad news and often just for fun. And he'd never sounded as irritable as he did now. Vademon steadied his nerves, choosing his words carefully as he rode the elevator to Delgado's office.

When the door slid open, Vademon wore as pleasant a smile as he could muster despite his thundering heart and the sight of Delgado slumped in his chair, his sour expression not changing in the slightest upon Vademon's arrival.

"Hello, Master! It's good to see you back from your journey to Folder!"

Delgado said nothing. Vademon might as well have been addressing the air.

"Well, ah… you asked for my report. Let's see… well, the good news is that the D-Chamber is totally complete! And we've received your handpicked recruits, Crocmon and Gargantumon. I might add that we've had to clear out some extra space and given extra rations to Gargantumon, but we seem to have sufficient supplies to feed him."

"Good. Might want to check in on Andromon, see what mental state he's in."

Vademon's heart sank. "Andromon is… sir, he's escaped."

Delgado blinked. "You're searching for him?" he asked calmly.

"Yes, sir, of course we are!"

"He might have made a terrifying soldier if his mind could be corrupted and broken, Vademon… I am _not_ pleased. That's strike one."

"Strike one? What does that mean, Master?" Vademon asked.

"Move on," Delgado said, his voice irritable and sullen.

"Er, sorry?"

"The portals. The biological agent."

"Th-the portal is not quite ready, Master. We've narrowed down the proper frequency, but we aren't quite at the point where we can pass through the barrier the Dark Orb is generating around the Digital World. _But_ we think it will be finished in a day or so."

"I asked you to finish it before I returned."

"I know, Master. I'm so sorry—"

"Strike two. Moment of Truth, Vademon," Delgado said, turning his icy gaze to him. "The Biological Agent? Did you complete it?"

"The… the labs were working with the human tissue you provided but, well…"

"But _what?"_ he asked.

"We were able to modify the agent as you specified, infusing it with your energy and creating it successfully… but the agent is unable to adapt to human hosts. It seems unable to infect the hosts in the way you specified." Delgado's expression darkened. "H-however, I may have hit upon the answer!" Vademon said quickly. "If you'll hear me out—"

"That's enough!" Delgado growled, his eyes flashing red temporarily. He then clutched at one eye, the one where his outward image had begun to be eroded by that boy, and groaned in what Vademon knew to be pain.

"Are you all right, Master?" Vademon asked, cowering at the sight of Delgado, unsure of what he would do next.

"That trip to Folder… I faced the Digidestined."

Vademon wondered if perhaps his master had actually failed against them, and his heart sank.

"I defeated them. Soundly. I destroyed a pair of them." He looked down at his hands which pulsed with dark energy. "I've won. They cannot stop me now."

Vademon felt a sudden, sadistic giddiness. "Master! You've destroyed a Digidestined! No one, not one in history has achieved that success!"

Delgado sniffed. That was true, but he still felt he'd been cheated. That little brat - that choir boy - had nearly torn away his disguise, nearly revealed his true form. And if that had happened, he would have been left vulnerable. Still immensely powerful, but vulnerable. And he had done this even when his digimon and all of his loved ones were gone. He had persisted right up until the end, forcing Delgado to destroy him before he did any more damage. And something had lingered, something intangible that he still felt even now. But then again, Vademon was right. Whatever harm the boy was going to do, it was of no consequence now. He was dead, and there was nothing his little friends could do about it now.

"Hmph," Delgado said noncommittally. "Yes, but it was too quick. Vademon, do you know what I enjoy more than anything else?"

"The suffering of others, sir?"

Delgado looked at Vademon in surprise, then laughed. "Ha! Exactly! You know what, Vademon? You're all right! You really do get me, don't you?" He smiled warmly. Vademon relaxed, breathing sigh of relief. "But, it's too bad you didn't finish those things I told you to do. You know what I do to failures. And that agent was your third strike." He kept the same warm smile as dark energy arose from one hand as he took a step forward. "Well, it was nice knowing you!"

"W-wait, Master!" Vademon pleaded. "I-I-I'm sorry I failed you, but I do have something that you may want to hear!"

"That right?" Delgado asked, still smiling, still stepping closer, growing ever more menacing with each step.

"The biological agent cannot adapt to normal humans because the nature of the agent has been modified by your energy to be too digital in nature! But I believe this can be remedied by incubating it in a more suitable host! Perhaps one that is more _compatible_ with digital entities!"

Delgado froze, suddenly understanding Vademon's meaning.

"If it suffering you wish for, Master," Vademon added, "then this would surely provide some." He smiled, in spite of his fear. "And I can think of no better punishment for the Digidestined than this."

Delgado lowered his hand. His smile grew and a laugh began to rise in his throat. "Well, holy smokes, Vademon, it's not every day I decide to kill someone and then go and change my mind!" he put a heavy hand on Vademon's "shoulder" and put out his hand. Vademon took it uncertainly, but Delgado only shook it. "Get to work on the agent immediately. I want it ready as soon as possible."

"Yes, Master! Thank you!" Vademon said.

"And then get back to work on the portals. I want them up in the next two days." And here he gripped Vademon's hand just a little tighter. "And Vademon… if it isn't ready in time… well, you know. Blah blah unending pain, blah blah horrible death, blah blah and I _do_ mean it this time. Capiche?"

"Yes sir," Vademon squeaked.

"Oh, and put Crocmon in some quarters in the inner ring. Give him a generous ration and have him conserve his strength. If Andromon's not around, he'll be the next best candidate." Delgado returned to his desk. _This evening might turn out not to be such a disappointment after all!_ he thought. _One of those little pests is down and out… but that still leaves me plenty of others to have my fun with before this is over. And this time, I'll be sure to take it slowly, savoring every moment of their pain._

* * *

Mimi felt each footstep like her feet were made of iron. She was tired and trudging back to their camp through the forest felt like it was taking forever. It was still light outside, not yet the evening, and yet she felt somehow that it ought to be darker.

_How can the weather be this nice?_ she wondered. _It should be raining, or dark and cloudy! It seems so weird that it's sunny and bright after… after everything that happened today._

They walked in a line, Jin taking the lead, herself second, then Amanda, and Michael in the back, each of their digimon at their side. This formation was due to necessity, not choice. Jin had grown quiet and sullen, and Amanda wasn't focusing on where she was going. She continually fell behind, so Mimi kept looking back to make sure she was still with them, and finally Michael had gone to the back of the line, urging her onward.

She heaved a heavy sigh, feeling a lump in her throat, though she managed to avoid crying. She wanted to keep going and try to rest once they returned to camp. A million different thoughts weighed on her mind and thinking back on what had happened earlier was bringing back a lot of old memories, and they weren't good ones.

They reminded her of when she was back on Spiral Mountain, back in the Digital World when the Dark Masters were hunting them and it seemed friend after friend would fall trying to protect them. She'd learned the expression "history repeats itself" in school, and now she felt like she knew what it meant.

It had first come to mind earlier, as Jin finally dried his eyes, broke his silence, and said. "Let's go."

"No," Amanda had said. She'd moved to the spot Scarmon had pointed out, staring at it intently, the tears still flowing from her eyes. She sat there, and since then had said absolutely nothing more as the others looked on.

"Amanda, we have to move on."

"Then go," she had whispered, and her voice was bitter. She refused to look at Jin when she said it.

"It's going to get dark soon, Amanda, we need to go back to camp."

"Who cares?"

"Amanda… it could be dangerous to stay out in the open when it gets dark."

"Fine," she hissed. "You go. I'm staying here."

Michael stepped forward. "Amanda, I'm sorry, but Jin's right. We have to move—"

"How? How can we just… leave?"

Michael had paused, apparently unsure of how to answer the question.

Amanda's voice cracked as she spoke. "This… this is the spot where our friend died," she said. And then, with sudden force: "How can we just leave him behind?!"

"We're not leaving… _him_ behind, Amanda," Michael replied, though he looked down guiltily.

Penguinmon looked to each of them helplessly, but said nothing. Mimi realized that he also understood the need to move on, but his partner's heart was breaking, and he didn't know what to say that wouldn't cause her any more pain.

Jin walked over to her. He put out his hand. "Come on, Amanda," he said. "It's time to go."

Amanda shook her head.

"I'm sorry," he said, and took hold of her arm. "But we have to."

"Let go!" she cried, struggling as he tried to haul her to her feet.

"Come _on,"_ he growled, beginning to drag her away.

"No! No, _please, we can't just leave him here!"_ she shouted, and her voice was desperate and her sobs choked her, even as a bitter anger started to come through. _"Let go! Let me go!"_

And a certain conversation came to Mimi's mind at that moment:

_(I have had enough! Every time we fight we end up losing another friend!)_

_ (This is war, Mimi, and sometimes people we like get hurt, so deal with it!)_

_ (Stop it, Tai!)_

"Jin!" Mimi shouted, and everyone froze to look at her. She came over and put her hand on his wrist. "It's okay," she said quietly. "Let her go. I'll handle this."

Jin was still for a moment, but he nodded and let Amanda go. As soon as he did, the girl buried her face in her hands, beginning to sob even louder than before. He actually winced as she shuddered, and Mimi felt the sound cut through her like a knife.

But she took a deep breath and knelt next to her. "I know that deep down you know we have to go sometime," she said, "but you're right, we can't just leave here."

Amanda didn't react, but Mimi knew she heard her, so she continued.

"Back when the original Digidestined and I were fighting the Dark Masters, we met a lot of old friends. Chumon, Pixiemon, Whamon… even Leomon. I wanted to stop and remember our friends, but Tai yelled at me because he wanted to keep moving. He just told me to 'deal with it.' That really upset me, but he was just like Jin… he wanted to think about the next thing, not about how sad he was." She looked over her shoulder at Jin, who turned away, avoiding her gaze, and she knew she was right. "But don't be too mad at him," she said, offering a smile, "boys just can't help being stupid, sometimes."

Amanda laughed through her tears in spite of herself. Her voice still cracked and shaking, she asked Mimi "What did you do?"

"What?"

"For your friends… what did you do for your friends who died?"

Mimi put her hand on Amanda's shoulder, feeling her own tears start to flow again. "I'll show you."

The two girls gathered a little earth and made small mound out of it right there, their digimon helping to shape and pack it into a suitable shape. Michael found two straight sticks and they tied them together into a little cross to mark the "grave."

"Thank… thank you, Mimi," Amanda said. And then she hugged her, and Mimi felt the hot tears as they began to drip onto her shoulder and soak into her shirt. Mimi returned the hug, doing her best to control her own crying and doing a poor job of it.

But through her own sorrow, she managed to say to her, "We won't forget about him, Amanda. We'll leave this here for now, but we'll make sure everyone else knows about Ángel. So please, come with us?"

Amanda heaved a sigh, but nodded and got to her feet. Mimi caught a glance at Penuinmon, and the little bird was smiling at her through his own tears, apparently grateful that she'd managed to somewhat pull his partner back from the brink.

That had been only a short while ago, but time felt like it was moving strangely. She had no real idea how long they'd been walking, and she wasn't even totally sure how long it would be until they arrived back at camp. But then, just as she felt like they might never arrive, they were there. Jin went to his things immediately, while Amanda wandered, seemingly without purpose, to sit by the remains of their morning campfire. Michael and Betamon went over to check on Jin, but the older boy waved them off, so they went to sit by Amanda and Penguinmon. Mimi did so as well, but once she did, Amanda looked up and, seemingly in a trance, went off to one isolated corner of the camp.

At first, no one understood what she was looking at, but then they saw it leaning up against a tree: Ángel's supplies.

She grabbed the little bag and picked it up, taking it over to where she'd placed her own things. Then she just sat in the dirt, hugging the bag to her chest.

Jin was apparently packing a few things himself and stuffed them into the pockets in his cargo pants, cinching up the laces on his boots and then applying a layer of sunscreen to his bare arms, neck, and face. Nobody was sure what was going on until he cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Okay, I don't know what our next move is going to be," he said, and Mimi was both comforted by the sudden authority in his voice and disturbed by how _strained_ he sounded. "But in the meantime, I think I should return to Earth for a little bit."

"What?" Michael asked. "Why?"

"Running away," Amanda muttered, and though Jin apparently didn't hear it, Mimi and Michael did and gave a sudden start.

"I want to go back to Mexico," Jin said. "I want to… I need to find out if something Delgado said is true."

"Delgado?" Michael asked. "What did he say?"

"I'll tell you if it turns out to be right."

"Jin?" Mimi asked, noticing the sudden pain on his face. "We can go with you, if you want. If… if you're worried about seeing Ángel's mother."

"He should be," Amanda said, and this time Jin did notice and his expression darkened.

"I… no, I'm not worried about seeing Ángel's mother," he said, and then added, "I'm worried about _not_ seeing Ángel's mother."

Mimi wasn't sure what that meant, but a dreadful feeling began to take hold and when she looked to Michael and Amanda, she saw the sudden look of horror in their eyes. Then the realization hit her as well: he was worried that Ángel's mother, perhaps the rest of his family, wasn't there anymore. And if that was the case, if Delgado had mentioned that, then perhaps, when he was in Nuevo Laredo…

"Jin!" Mimi cried. "That—"

"Until I know for sure, I'm not ready to believe anything. But if Ángel has any friends or family still around, then they need to be told." And here he went to Amanda. "And I should probably give them his things."

Amanda clutched at the bag even more tightly and stared back at Jin with angry, defiant eyes. "No. You keep your hands off."

"Look, his friends or family—"

_"We're_ his friends! _We're_ his family!" she screamed. "We might be the only ones left who remember what a wonderful person he was!"

"That… that may be true, but if not—"

"Just _shut up,"_ she said as her voice went breathless. "You can't have these things. All you care about is moving on. You won't stop to remember him only a few minutes after he died, you want to get rid of his things so you won't have to look at them, and all you can really think about is what you'll do next. That's all you ever care about, Jin! All you care about is the next fight!"

"That's not—"

"You wouldn't even let him have one date until we forced you to keep quiet! And… and now… now he'll never…"

Mimi went over to Jin and put her hand on his shoulder. To her surprise, he was actually trembling, and she realized that it was not with sorrow, but sudden, barely-contained fury.

"Now listen," Jin said through clenched teeth, his anger growing, but still controlled. "None of that crap is true. Ángel was my friend and I'm just trying to honor my promise to his mother."

"Too late for that," Amanda said, and the venom of her words was enough to finally make Jin lose his temper.

"You little brat!" he shouted.

"Jin, don't—!" Mimi cried, but he wasn't listening.

"You think you know everything because your crush died? You don't know anything about anything! That bag of stuff might actually belong to someone else who misses him, you know! Don't act like you're the only one who cares, because you aren't! Maybe you didn't notice, but I don't have that many friends either, and I just lost one!"

"Make it two!" she shot back.

"Wh-what?" he asked, suddenly confused. "I mean, yeah, Muchomon too—"

"I meant me, you moron!" and now the tears in her eyes were angry, hateful ones. "You treat me like crap, you make fun of me, and you tried to keep Ángel and me from being together! You're a cold, unfeeling jerk and I hate you! Who would ever want to be _your_ friend?!"

Jin was dumbstruck, as were the others. Mimi started to say something, but Jin regained his composure and raised his hand, stopping her from speaking. "If you really feel that way, then that's fine," he said, his voice now back to being calm. "Hold on to that bag and see what he left for us. If I find a relative, we might talk about this again, but you're right that, for now, we're the only ones who remember him."

Amanda refused to look at him, but she nodded, holding the bag tightly.

"Good. Okay, my digivice is showing a Digiport not far from here. If Nuevo Laredo and the surrounding area are linked to Folder, it should get me somewhere close to where we started. I'll be back as soon as I can, so stay here for tonight. If it takes longer, head back to Partition and take up lodging there. Scarmon?"

"Yeah, Jin?" his partner asked.

"You're with me. You feeling ready for a trip?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," he said with a sigh.

Jin nodded and then, as Mimi went over to Amanda to try and talk to her, he went to Michael.

"Listen, Michael," he whispered, "I want you to keep an extra sharp eye out for Mimi and Amanda."

"Sure, but we have our digimon, so—"

"No, it's… I don't mean I'm worried about their safety," he said. "Look, I know you're trying to be strong and so am I, but honestly, I feel like I'm about to fall apart, Mike."

Michael suddenly saw the heaviness in his bloodshot eyes and now that he got a closer look, the older boy really looked terrible. Not that he imagined he looked better, but he suspected that the emotional strain of losing his friend and Amanda's accusations had inflicted a heavy toll.

"So listen," Jin continued, "I don't mean to be sexist but… we're the guys and those two are…"

"Mimi's sensitive and Amanda's had her heart broken," Michael said, finishing Jin's thoughts. "I'll do whatever I can."

"Thanks. I… I really appreciate it," he said, and the two shook hands. "You're a good guy, Michael Washington."

Michael smiled. "So are you, Jin Takamura."

And in the back of his mind, as he went in search of the digiport, Jin Takamura thought to himself, _Am I really? Or was that something else Ángel made me believe in that turned out to be wrong?_

* * *

In a small, darkened metal room, deep under one of the many steely buildings in Full Metal City, Andromon grunted as a Gardromon and a Kokuwamon worked on repairing his injuries. They had tools and some oil and a few other things to repair his metal parts, though his organic components were in need of some care as well.

"We brought food, Andromon," another Gardromon said. "Our double agents managed to horde a little of their food rations for us."

"I am glad you were able to stay safe," Andromon said in his electric, reverberating voice. "Though I am unworthy of your kindness. As the guardian of Full Metal City, I failed you and the other digimon here. The Dark One and his forces were too strong for me."

"Don't blame yourself, sir," Kokuwamon said. "You refused to surrender and many of us escaped from the city. We wanted to get you free and then send a message to those outside. We have been spreading the word and raising an army to attack the city and take it back!"

"Can that be done? How many digimon are in the city now?"

"The Dark One's forces are great, nearly five hundred. However, only three hundred are just for combat. The rest are less powerful, but they are working on different things in the city. They are rewiring many machines, updating living quarters, and setting up surveillance cameras. The city has been split into the Outer Ring where most of the Dark One's forces are gathered, and the Inner Ring, where the Dark One, his most elite soldiers, and his most important projects are housed."

Andromon gave this some thought. Five hundred was a lot, but less than he'd expected. Full Metal City wasn't actually very big, but before the Dark One arrived, nearly a thousand mechanical digimon called it home. But they were organized, and powerful, and the Dark One himself was truly terrifying, even without a show of power…

"How many forces do we have?" Andromon asked.

"We think up to four hundred now, but in a few days we should have a thousand!"

Andromon nodded. "Then let's gather as much information as we can on the Dark One's plans and get it to the army. Also, we must try to contact the Digidestined. If anyone can save this world, I know they can!"

"It is good to have you back, Andromon!" the Gardromon said, sealing the last of a wound on his back. "Soon we will take back our city!"

* * *

Jin sat in the back of a taxi cab. The digiport actually transported him into an alley on the outskirts of town. He managed to find a taxi and managed to convince the driver that Scarmon was his pet iguana. He'd asked the driver to take him to Rosa Blanca, but the driver didn't know exactly where it is. Luckily, Jin remembered the way. He wasn't quite sure how much the ride was going to cost him, but he brought some extra money and was pretty sure it would cover the fare. For all the times he'd teased him about being a stuck up rich kid, Jin had to admit that it was lucky that Michael's family was wealthy. They'd never have been able to make the trip without the money to get food, lodging, and anything else they needed. It was hard to believe that it was just last week that he and the others had traveled across the country, heading from New York City to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. All the while, just following his gut instinct that they would find their ally…

He looked down, thinking again of Ángel. He spent all that time finding him, working with him, learning from him… and in the end, he got him killed.

_"Está bien, señor?" _the driver asked.

_"Sí. Por qué?"_ Jin asked back.

_"Porque está llorando, señor,"_ the driver said.

Jin blinked and felt the liquid run from his eyes. He put his hand up reflexively, realizing that the driver was right: he had been crying.

_"Lo siento. Mi buen amigo murió recientemente."_

_ "Qué horrible! Pero señor es tan joven!"_

Again, the driver was right. Jin was clearly young, but Ángel was even younger. Or had been.

Soon enough, as the sun began to set, he saw the unmarked little pathway to Rosa Blanca. He told the driver to stop and, if he needed to, keep the meter running because he would be right back. Normally the driver would have been far more skeptical about getting ditched, but because he felt sorry for the boy, he let him out. Rosa Blanca wasn't easy to spot if you didn't go looking for it and wasn't visible from the main road, but following the dirt road a short distance would get you a view over the little shanty town in almost no time at all. He turned a corner and looked down the hill.

"No… oh no, I was hoping that… crap."

Delgado hadn't been lying. The tiny village was now in shambles, the little makeshift shacks and huts smashed and strewn across a veritable debris field. Jin uneasily made his way down into the area. A long, yellow police tape line blocked the path, but since there was nobody actually there, he just ducked under it and walked in. The little path that formerly went through the center of the village was now littered with pieces of the buildings and the former personal effects of the people who had lived there. Even pots and pans and bits of clothing were there.

Scarmon bristled, looking around frantically, almost fearfully.

"Scarmon? What's wrong?" Jin asked.

"I can smell them," he growled. "The people who used to live here."

"Of course, they lived here—"

"No, I— Jin, you won't want to hear it."

"Tell me. We came here to investigate… honestly, I don't really want to know what you're going to say, but I have to know, so just tell me."

Scarmon sighed. "Creatures take on a different smell when they die. The people around here… when they died, I think it took a while before anyone found out. It was probably a while before someone took the bodies away."

Jin made a face. He changed his mind; he really would rather have not known that.

The pair came to what had formerly been Ángel's house. He smiled for a moment, remembering when the boy had first walked out, smiling warmly as he greeted them, already expecting them and eager to begin his "quest." The people of the village swarming them, wishing them luck as they departed… it all suddenly came back to him, and the memory was truly bittersweet.

Jin gently made his way through the wreckage of the house, lifting the boards that had once been the wall, and looked through the things that had once belonged to Ángel's family. He wasn't sure what he was even looking for, just that he wanted to see what was left. He couldn't save Ángel, he couldn't save his family… but just maybe there was something that he _could_ save.

"Jin, look what I found!" Scarmon called.

Jin went to him and smiled when he saw what his partner had unearthed. It was a small, framed picture of Ángel's family. His mother smiling as she stood next to his father, who had his hand on Ángel's shoulder, and right next to him was his little brother Miguel. Most tellingly, their digimon were in the picture as well, with Muchomon perched on Ángel's other shoulder and Miguel was holding up his little Koromon. The little boy and younger digimon weren't looking directly at the camera, seemingly distracted by something off to the side. Jin chuckled at the sight.

"Muchomon," Scarmon said just then, almost absentmindedly.

Jin picked his partner up. "I know we've been talking a lot about Ángel," he said. "But you lost a good friend today too, buddy. I'm sorry that I didn't really say anything about it."

"It's fine. Well, not _fine,"_ Scarmon said, struggling for the right words. "I'm really going to miss that nutty bird, but we digimon can be reborn. I might actually see Muchomon again somewhere way down the road, if he decides to come back. But you humans," and here he looked up and Jin, somewhat sadly, "when you're killed… that's it. You don't come back, do you?"

Jin heaved a long sigh. "No," he said. "Not in this world anyway."

For a moment, his thoughts went to his mother. Crazily, and he thought, a bit childishly, he found himself wondering if Ángel might be in that Pure Land that his mother had told him about. Maybe the two of them were having a conversation right now, discussing what Jin had tried to accomplish, how he had made a change in his life, how he was finally trying to be a good person. Perhaps that would make her happy, and she could rest more easily. Maybe she was having tea that very second with Ángel's mother…

He laughed again, thinking the idea silly, but nonetheless he felt himself tearing up again.

"You okay, Jin?"

"Yeah, I… just give me a minute."

The framed picture was very small, but clear and the frame didn't look like it would be too obtrusive. His cargo pants had more than enough pockets, so he gently wrapped the photograph in a piece of cloth he found to protect it, then put it in one of his free pockets.

"Okay, the taxi's still waiting," he said. "Let's head back to town."

"Are we finding a digiport and going back to the others?"

"No. I still have something I need to check on in Nuevo Laredo." He took a deep breath, tensing up suddenly. "If we're going to ask about survivors, we need to talk to someone who's already investigated. We need to talk to the police."

* * *

Mimi sat down on a log, Palmon at her side, and watched as Michael poked their newly-built campfire. He sat down next to Betamon, and across the way, still clutching Ángel's bag, Amanda sat with Penguinmon. It was still early evening, and Michael had scrounged through their supplies and found a few different cans of food. They just needed to be heated over the fire.

"We have beans, some chicken soup, and some clam chowder. We could probably heat it right in the can."

"I could go for clam chowder," Betamon said.

"Hold on, Betamon," Michael said looking at Mimi and Amanda. "Ladies first, after all."

Mimi was barely paying attention, but smiled at his usual chivalry. "Thank you, but, um… maybe Amanda would like to choose first?"

Amanda didn't respond. With her tired, red eyes, she simply gazed blankly into the campfire. She didn't even acknowledge Penguinmon when he poked her, trying to get her attention.

"Amanda," he said loudly, finally causing her to blink and turn to him slowly.

"What?" she asked.

"Michael and Mimi say we get first pick of dinner tonight. Beans, chicken soup, or clam chowder."

"I don't care," she replied quietly.

"Well, is there one you don't want?"

"I… I really don't feel like eating anything."

Penguinmon sighed, snuggling up next to her. "Okay then. If you're not hungry, then neither am I."

Mimi and Michael exchanged a look.

"Should we do something?" Mimi asked him.

"Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink," Michael answered.

Mimi blinked. "Oh. Okay," she said slowly. "Amanda, Penguinmon, Michael thinks you should have something to drink."

Michael stifled a laugh as Amanda and Penguinmon stared at him in confusion. "Uh, no, Mimi that's not quite what I meant," he said. Mimi felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment, realizing she'd misunderstood yet another expression, but she put it aside as Michael stood from his spot and brought one of the cans over to Amanda. "Take the chicken soup," he said gently. "If you want it, that's fine. I'll heat it for you if you want it. Just let me know. I always enjoy chicken soup when I'm not feeling well."

Amanda took it numbly, examining the can, then passing it to Penguinmon. "Thank you, Michael," she said. "Penguinmon, you eat. I just heard your stomach growl. I'm really not hungry."

"If you're not eating—"

"It's okay," she said. "It's not fair for you to go hungry just because I have no appetite."

Penguinmon's stomach rumbled again and he gave in. "Okay, Amanda, I'll eat. But if you want some, just say so."

Michael took the can back, popping it open and placing it on the low, hot coals of the fire. He did the same for the can of beans for him and the clam chowder for Mimi.

"It's funny how quickly I got used to it," Michael said, "but I'm actually missing Jin's cooking."

Mimi nodded. "I know we got upset when he made that stew out of bunnies," she remarked, "but I'd eat more of that in heartbeat. All the fresh food he was able to hunt or gather. Jin really is—"

"A savage," Amanda interrupted. "Just like you said he was, Michael."

Everyone was again startled by Amanda's sudden attack. Mimi in particular felt hurt by the harshness of the younger girl's tone and her attack on Jin. She hated seeing her friends fight, and this wasn't like when Michael and Jin were at each other's throats because they had started out as former enemies and gradually become closer. But with Amanda, the girl had once hung on Jin's every word and joked and teased and flirted and _laughed_ with him. And now she was being so terrible. But to everyone's surprise, the next response came not from Mimi or Michael, but from Palmon.

"Amanda, you shouldn't say mean things about Jin!" Palmon said. "He's been trying really hard to help us all!"

"Then why didn't he use his Crest and digivolve Scarmon to Mega when we faced that monster Delgado?!" she demanded. "We didn't stand a chance, and he—"

"But just a little while ago, back in Partition, we talked about why he _can't_ use his Crest anymore!" Palmon pointed out.

And now it was Betamon who spoke. "Yeah, nobody wants Jin to use his rage to fight! He and Scarmon are pretty darn scary when they use that power, trust me!"

"He could have… he could have stopped Delgado," she said, sounding less sure of herself now.

"I don't think so," Betamon said. "Penguinmon, you and I gave him everything we had as Freezedramon, and our toughest attacks couldn't hurt him at all. Not a bit!"

Penguinmon met his partner's cold gaze for a moment, but then he looked away. "Betamon's… he's right, Amanda. Not even a Mega digimon could have hurt him. There was a way to fight him, but we haven't found it yet."

"I know one thing," Mimi said, chiming in, "and it's that no matter what, we aren't going to beat evil by using dark power like the Crest of Rage! We need to find a better way to fight!"

Michael smiled at her and she felt proud of herself, knowing she'd said something good and insightful. But this feeling only lasted for a moment, as Amanda heaved a sigh and muttered, "We can act all high and mighty about being the good guys and fighting with honor… but what does it matter? We screwed up. We couldn't save the world. We couldn't even save one person and one digimon. The only one who was there to stop it from happening was Jin, and for all his gusto he didn't do anything."

Mimi tried to think of a reply, when Amanda added, "Oh, by the way, your clam chowder smells like it's burning."

"What? Oh!" she realized she'd forgotten to keep stirring her soup and quickly stirred it with a spoon before picking up the can with a pair of tongs to remove it from the fire. "Well, it doesn't look so bad. I guess it's dinner time, everyone!"

Mimi and Palmon, Michael and Betamon, and Penguinmon all began their meager meal as Amanda returned to her earlier silence. The mood had definitely grown darker and far more uncomfortable.

Penguinmon, unsure of what else to do, offered spoonful after spoonful to Amanda, hoping she'd take it. But she continually waved it off, totally uninterested in eating anything.

"Come on, Amanda," Penguinmon pleaded. "Eat something."

"I don't want anything."

"Just for me?"

"No. I'm not hungry."

Mimi spoke up then. "Come on, Amanda," she said. "Just try to eat something." And then, before she realized what she was saying, she said, "You haven't had anything to eat since your lunch with—" She clapped her hand over her mouth, but it was too late.

A sob escaped her. Mimi frantically apologized as she went to the girl. She did her best to comfort her, but Amanda's crying became ever more mournful and hysterical as she gripped the bag of Ángel's things, rocking back and forth and desperately calling the dead boy's name again and again until the strength had totally left her and the sunlight drained from the sky, leaving them all in total darkness save for the low, red glow of their campfire.

* * *

_"Habla japonés?"_Jin asked.

_"No. Habla inglés?"_

"Yes, I do," Jin said, somewhat relieved. He had tried to get his point across in Spanish, but the truth was that his skills in the language were actually a little lacking. If he was going to get anywhere, he'd have to speak one of his other two languages. Japanese was too much to ask, but English would be fine. After all, these days he spoke it more often than his first language anyway.

"My name is Inspector Juan Vargas," said the officer. Jin was seated before his desk in the Nuevo Laredo police department. He fidgeted nervously, which one couldn't really blame him for. After all, the last time he'd been in a police department was after he got out of the hospital and been taken to the juvenile hall last fall. Still, he'd managed to keep his composure when he walked inside. At first, it had been difficult to make any progress, but when he mentioned the words "Rosa Blanca" things went crazy. A great many police officers started firing off questions rapid fire and kept pulling him in one direction after another, but finally they brought him to Inspector Vargas's desk.

"So, from what we understand," Vargas began, "you know something about what happened at Rosa Blanca, the little village just outside the city."

"Yes."

"What is your name, young man?"

Jin squirmed in his seat. Considering he was a fugitive now for violating parole, he might be in some computer system and didn't want to be arrested before he got some answers. So, he finally answered with, "That's not important."

"I think it is," Vargas said, raising one eyebrow. "Here in Mexico, we have many problems. Gangs, drugs, and more than a few terrible politicians. But what happened in Rosa Blanca is one of the most shocking and terrible things that happened in this city in a long time. So, if you have information, then we need to know who you are."

Jin thought this over. "My name isn't important, but I need you to trust me. I have information for you and you might be able to help me. So I'll tell you a secret: I'm a Digidestined."

Vargas said nothing. "You expect me to believe that this ugly black lizard," Vargas said, gesturing to Scarmon, who was playing up the role of "dumb pet" particularly well, "is one of those strange digimon creatures?"

"He is. Please don't panic."

Vargas didn't look like he was going to panic. His expression turned darker. "Are you on drugs, young man?"

Scarmon rolled his eyes. "No, we've been off the glitterberries for over three years," Scarmon remarked, startling Vargas as the "ugly black lizard" spoke up.

"What the… wait, glitterberries?"

"Yeah," Scarmon said, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Every day is a struggle. We were lucky to have friends at Berry Anonymous."

"Scarmon, shut up," Jin said. "Listen, officer, I'm a Digidestined, this is my digimon, and this little gadget on my belt is a digivice. I fight evil digimon who want to hurt people, so in a way, we're both in the same line of work. I can't tell you what my name is right now, or why I can't give it, but I want to talk to you about Rosa Blanca."

Inspector Vargas still looked nervous and he wiped the sweat from his brow as he leaned back in his chair behind his desk. But finally, after he calmed himself, he said, "All right. What do you want to talk about?"

"For starters," Jin said, "I want to know what you know. What happened there, and when?"

"We don't know what happened. There were reports of strange sounds in the hills from some farmers and some migrant workers didn't arrive at their jobs. When officers went to investigate the next day, they found that little shanty town completely destroyed. The place was covered with wreckage from the buildings and there were many people who had been killed."

"Had they been dead for a while?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. The coroner determined they had all died at about the same time, about 12 hours before we found them late in the morning."

"When was that?"

"A week ago. Let's see… eight days, to be exact."

Jin did the math in his head. That first day, they fought MetalNumamon; then they fought Orochimon; then the third day they faced SuperStarmon and crashed from Sky City and had their run-in with Volcanomon; the next day, they defeated him and then found the girls at Aristomon's manor; day five, they had that rotten day when Amanda ate those berries and Junkmon abducted them; the next two days had been spent dealing with Pandamon; then day eight had been spent in Partition. Counting today, it had been nine days since they first met Ángel and ventured to the Digital World. And if the police found the victims at Rosa Blanca eight days ago and they'd actually died twelve hours before…

"We led him right to them," Jin said to himself, clenching his fists in anger.

"What's that?"

"It's nothing," Jin replied. "Listen, I have to know… were there any survivors?"

Inspector Vargas sighed. "We… we did find one, but he is not well."

"What do you mean? Is he hurt?"

"No, he's… well, come with me."

There were many small cells in the police department, and they usually held drunks for the night or some other delinquent until someone could pick them up, or held prisoners before they were sentenced and sent to a major prison. But at the end of the hall, there was a cell that held a man in his mid-30s, and he was simply muttering to himself and sitting in the corner. He didn't even react when Jin, Vargas, and Scarmon approached his cell. As Jin got closer, he could hear the man muttering something incoherently.

"We found him like this. We think he actually saw what happened at Rosa Blanca, but he's suffered some terrible shock. We don't know what's wrong with him and we can't get any information from him. We had him on suicide watch for a while, but he seems to have calmed down."

"You call _this_ calm?" Scarmon remarked. "The guy's muttering to himself in the corner of a jail cell!"

"At least he stopped screaming," Vargas replied.

"Who is he?" Jin asked. "He's not named Dominguez, is he?" he added hopefully.

"No. His name is Garcia. Jorge Garcia."

Jin's heart sank. He wasn't one of Ángel's relatives. Still, he might know something worth discussing, so he mustered up the best Spanish he could and said: "(Mr. Garcia? Do you remember me?)"

Garcia acted as though he hadn't at first, but then he slowly turned around and his face actually lit up for a moment. "(Oh, it's you! The Digidestined boy! You and your friends left with Ángel!)"

"(Yes, that's right,)" Jin said. "(Listen, Mr. Garcia. What happened to you? What happened to Rosa Blanca?)"

"(It was terrible! It… oh, he came, the man with red eyes!)"

"There he goes again," Vargas sighed. "He tried to tell us this story before…"

Jin ignored Vargas for the moment and urged Garcia to go on. "(What else do you remember about the man?)"

"(He was a white man… but not really. A man with cowboy clothes and he shot darkness from his hands! We…we tried to run, but he destroyed our homes. Some of the men tried to stop him, hit him with weapons, knives, whatever we could grab, but when they did, he… he…)"

Jin watched with dread as the man's knees grew shaky and the look of horror on his face told him that whatever Delgado had done, it was something horrible. "(It's okay,)" Jin said. "(You don't have to say, I understand.)"

"(I ran… the screams of the others… the man with red eyes, he… I could hear him laughing! He laughed as he killed them!)"

"(Ángel's family, Mr. Garcia? I need to find them.)"

"(Oh no… that poor boy… God blessed him and because the demons feared him, they came after his family. May the Lord bless him and keep him safe.)"

Jin winced. "(Did… Er, does Ángel have any other family?)"

"(No. It was only his mother, father, and his little brother. Will you… will you tell him about his family?)"

Jin did his best to remain composed and said "(I will. Thank you very much, Mr. Garcia. I'll deliver this information to my friends. Please, try to stay calm and let me worry about the man who did this to your village.)"

Jin, Vargas, and Scarmon walked away as the exhausted, half-crazed man collapsed to the floor. Partially relieved of his trauma, he let himself relax and immediately fell asleep.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Vargas said. "Whatever happened to him, it looks like it drove him crazy. That story about that man with red eyes, a cowboy hat, and dark energy… it's total nonsense."

Jin, Vargas, and Scarmon all returned to Vargas's desk and Jin tried to choose his words carefully in front of the Inspector.

"He's… not crazy," Jin began. "I know this man he saw."

Jin did his best to explain the situation, giving an abridged version of what happened, where he'd been, and who exactly it was that Garcia had seen. When he was finished, Vargas looked skeptical, but also shaken. Jin's earnestness and the undeniable fact that he was a Digidestined added some weight to his story.

"So," Vargas said slowly, "you went to fight this evil creature who disguises himself as a human because you saw him in your dreams. And you went there with your friends from New York after coming all the way here to Nuevo Laredo, and took a local boy with you. And this creature who calls himself Delgado murdered him and his digimon. Is that accurate?"

Jin nodded. "It's a crazy story, I know, but I swear it's true."

"So, tell me this… if you were trying to stop him from destroying the world and he defeated you, then what will happen now?"

"Nothing good," Jin said. "I want to say that we've got an idea of what to do next, but for right now, I'm just trying to do right by my friend. His name was Ángel Dominguez, and he deserves to be remembered."

Vargas typed a few things into his computer and frowned when he saw the report. "Well, unfortunately, I can confirm for certain what you came to find out. Among the bodies, we identified his father, Raul Dominguez, his mother Gabriela, and his younger brother Miguel. Our investigation did turn up that the family included a 13-year-old named Ángel, born June 30, who attended a small school near the outskirts of the city. I suppose this answers the question of what happened to him."

Jin sighed. _June 30,_ he thought. _His birthday is in just a few weeks. Or would be._

"I know this is painful for you, young man," Vargas said, "but I need to get my superior officer and I want you to explain your story to him as well. And I think you ought to tell us your name."

"I can't do that," Jin replied.

"Listen, son… you aren't responsible for your friend's death. But the question of who you are and what you and your friends are doing needs to be answered. This… this goes beyond one boy's death."

"There's nothing you or the rest of the police can do about this problem," Jin told him. "The Ancient Enemy is something only we can handle."

"Just stay here and let me get the chief. He's still in his office, and this won't take too long. I'll explain things to him and you can just confirm what you told me and fill in a few more gaps. Don't worry, you won't be in trouble," he assured him with a smile. "It is not like you've committed any crimes."

With that, Inspector Vargas got up to find his superior, leaving Jin and Scarmon sitting by his desk. Scarmon looked at Jin and asked, quietly, "Jin… are we really going to tell the police chief who we are? Who you are?"

"Not likely," Jin sniffed. "I told him what he needed to know and we learned what we needed to know. We better get back to the others, it's starting to get late."

"How do we get back without anyone seeing us leave?"

"Did you forget how this works?" Jin asked, getting up and going to Vargas's computer monitor, holding up his digivice. "Digiport open!"

A few minutes later, Vargas returned with the Chief of Police, only to find the strange boy and his partner were nowhere to be found. Luckily for him, though, plenty of officers had seen the boy come in and the security footage would later show him as he activated the digiport and returned to the Digital World. This just left the question of who he really was.

* * *

Back in the Digital World, Jin and Scarmon walked down a dark path. Since Folder was connected to the area of Mexico concentrated around Nuevo Laredo, they'd found themselves on a different part of the island continent, but a little investigation of landmarks and some checking of the stars told them that they weren't too far from their camp. They made their way through the darkness relying on Scarmon's night vision and the light of the moon and stars.

And then Scarmon froze, suddenly, nearly causing Jin to accidentally step on him as he followed.

"Scarmon?"

"Sh!" he hissed, and their years of experience in the Digital World made Jin tense up and turn around to make sure nothing was sneaking up on them. When Scarmon acted this way, it meant he detected a threat. There were more than a few times this meant a dangerous predator was in the area or, worse, an ambush.

"Do you see anything?" Jin whispered.

"No. And I don't smell anything either. But the insects and other animals in the area just went silent. Something's here."

They both scanned the darkness in a wide circle, but saw nothing. But there was something there, and the more they looked, the more Jin got a chill down his spine. His gut instinct told him something was there, and it was rarely wrong in situations like these. But if it wasn't around them, then…

He looked down and saw that they were both standing in a dim shadow, barely detectable in the pale moonlight. "Scarmon," he whispered, not reacting visibly, despite his growing fear. "It's above us. Look up on three."

"Got it."

"One… two… three!"

They both looked up and their blood ran cold. Floating above them as though standing on an invisible platform, a familiar shape, but now a complete mass of darkness, smiled down at them with a gleaming white grin and glowing red eyes.

"Good evening, gentlemen!" Delgado said. "I've got a present for you, and I just know you're gonna love it!" And with cruel laughter, he fell upon them.

* * *

As the fire burned low, Michael, Mimi, and the others began to contemplate turning in early for the night. It had been an exhausting and emotionally draining day. Horrible as it had been, sleep seemed like it might be the only real relief they would get. They were discussing who would keep watch when they heard a loud rustling coming through the forest. The digimon sprang to their feet defensively and peered into the darkness to watch for the source of the noise, ready to digivolve at a moment's notice.

But after a few moments, they relaxed when they saw Jin arrive, Venomon at his side.

"Jin, I'm glad you're back," Michael said, sighing with relief. "It's good to see you."

"Can't say the feeling's mutual, Preppie," Jin said, and in the dim light of the campfire, they all saw him sneer cruelly.

"Jin?" Michael asked. "What the… what was that for?"

"And why is Scarmon in his Champion form?" Amanda asked.

"You ask too many questions, you brat," Jin replied.

"Jin!" Mimi cried. "What's gotten into you?! We're your friends and we've just had a horrible day! Why are you talking to us like this?!"

Jin and Venomon chuckled. "Well, Mimi, it's like this," he said. "Tried the whole 'friends' thing, and, honestly, it's not working out. I was a lot better off when I just used the Crest of Rage and my partner and we kicked as much butt as we wanted on our own."

"Jin," Mimi breathed. "You… you don't mean that…"

"Wait, Jin," Michael asked, starting to feel increasingly apprehensive about the fierce look in both Jin and Venomon's eyes. "What about Ángel? What did you find out about him?"

"Oh, that? Well, looks like Delgado told the truth. Rosa Blanca, his village, got obliterated. All the people, save one half-crazed citizen, are dead. And that includes his family. No surviving relatives."

"Oh… oh no," Mimi said. "Jin, that's so terrible."

"Well, maybe so," Jin sighed, "but I think I've figured things out now. And I've got Amanda in part to thank."

Amanda scoffed at this. "Me? You can keep your thanks, I don't want it."

"Suit yourself," Jin said with a shrug. "You called me a cold, unfeeling jerk and said that I really didn't care about anyone but myself. I wasn't, though. I really did care about Ángel, the world, and all of you."

Palmon tapped Mimi on the leg. "Mimi… something's wrong here. I can just feel it."

"I know," she whispered. "Something terrible has gotten into him."

"Anyway," Jin continued, "I figured out that caring got me a lot of heartache and it's been dragging me down since day one. And now that we've lost the fight, the world is pretty well screwed, so there's not much point in caring anymore when it's not going to do any good."

"Jin, what are you saying?" Michael demanded.

"Are you and Scarmon really giving up hope?!" Betamon cried.

"There's no hope to give up," Jin sighed. And then his expression became a murderous grin. "I've decided to give up raging against the dying of the light… and just settle for raging. Venomon, would you do the honors?"

"With pleasure," he said, stepping forward and reeling his head back.

"Everyone get down!" Penguinmon shouted, shoving Amanda out of the way as the other digimon followed suit.

_"Venom Spit!"_ The attack launched a glob of venom at the group, but it splashed into their campfire, extinguishing it with a sizzle and a cloud of smoke.

"Quick, everyone digivolve!" Betamon called.

"Wait, Betamon, look!" Palmon said. They all looked and saw that Jin and Venomon were gone. The sound of laughter echoed from the forest.

"We have to go after him!" Michael exclaimed.

"You're right," Mimi said. "Let's get our things and go before he gets too far!"

The gathered up their things, and it was only then that Penguinmon noticed that Amanda was crouched on the ground, still trembling. "Amanda? Amanda, what's wrong?"

"He… he attacked us..." she muttered, her eyes wide in horror. "He… what he said…"

"Amanda?" Penguinmon asked. "Listen," he said softly, "we need to go. If we don't leave now."

"No, you're… you're right," she said, and she gathered her things, but she also struggled as she tried to also carry Ángel's things. As they began to depart, Michael noticed that she was straining with the extra load, so he went over to her.

"Let me help you with that," he said.

"No!" she shouted with ferocity. "You can't take it from me!"

"Whoa, whoa, Amanda, I'm not taking it from you," he said, holding up his hands defensively. "I'll carry it with you. Nobody's going to take it from you, okay?"

"Do… do you promise?"

"Yes. I promise. I won't make you do anything you don't want to do."

She sniffled, wiping her eyes momentarily and then set the bag down, taking one strap as Michael took the other. They all followed Jin's trail into the woods, wondering where the boy had gone.

But they didn't have to go far. In a clearing in the middle of the woods, emitting a bright glow, was a TV monitor, its digiport activated a short time ago.

"He went this way?" Mimi asked. "Should we follow him?"

"Yes," Michael said. "He's our friend, even if he's lost sight of that. I'm not sure I can totally blame him."

Mimi smiled. "Michael… you really have changed since we started this."

Michael returned the smile. "We all have. Jin has too. Let's remind him that it was for the better." And they all stepped through the digiport.

The sudden sunlight hurt their eyes, and as their vision cleared, the sound of panic and sirens filled the air. They were on a crowded street in the middle of a city, and there before them were people shouting and panicking. Cars and windows had been smashed and light posts had been knocked over.

"Did… did Jin do this?" Michael gasped.

"Oh no… I don't believe it," Mimi breathed.

"What is it, Mimi?" Michael asked, and then he noticed the signs and recognized the language the people were speaking. "Wait… is this Japan? We're in Japan?!"

"Michael, everyone… I know this place. We're in Tokyo!"

**END "CONTINENT OF FOLDER" ARC**

**To be continued…**

* * *

_The end of an arc and a new crisis in a massive metropolis have arrived. Leave a review, __please__, it really motivates me to keep writing more than anything else and I really care what my readers think. Thanks for supporting this story so far!_


	21. Interlude: Bureaucracy

**Interlude:**

"**Bureaucracy"**

* * *

**February, 2003 – 6 Weeks After MaloMyotismon's Defeat:**

"…And that, my colleagues, is what it comes down to. The creatures called digimon _must_ be regulated!" The speaker was a graying man in his mid 50s. He was a member of the Diet, the Japanese national government's legislative branch. Specifically, he was a member of the House of Representatives. He was standing before a group of his fellow representatives as they sat in a long row. The committee before him had been formed in recent weeks in part due to his own demands. His name was Junichi Daigo, and he was on the verge of seeing digimon and the Digidestined brought under the law. "It is easy to be swept up in the romanticism of it all," he continued. "Children across the world working together to stop those beasts that appeared on Christmas, and then ascending to the sky on beams of light to stop a demonic beast from destroying the world… even I'm not immune to it, it's a stirring and amazing event.

"But that does not change the fact that we have creatures among us at this very moment who can transform and grow so large and powerful that annihilating an entire city would be simple. And are these powerful creatures locked up in a protected storeroom? Do we have rules about when and where they can use their powers? No, no… we let their human keepers use them as they please. Thus far they have done their best to help us, but what happens if they decide they don't like working for us anymore? I, for one, think that perhaps some accountability is in order. These young heroes deserve our respect, yes… but they are still citizens of our nation, and our nation is a peaceful one! We do not arm our citizens, we tightly regulate where we store our weapons for even our police. So why do we allow mere _children_ to freely take control of living weapons with greater power than anything our own army has in its possession? Do your duty as lawmakers… place these creatures and these children under the _law. _Thank you."

As Daigo took his seat, applause from various representatives echoing in the massive chamber, Tai Kamiya tried his best to sit still, but he had to admit he felt nervous. _The younger Digidestined should be the ones talking,_ he thought. _They were the ones who defeated MaloMyotismon, really. At least Davis is here. He's probably pretty nervous too, though._

He turned around to look behind him where Davis was sitting. He had to stifle a chuckle, however; the younger boy was fast asleep, quietly snoring as he relaxed in his seat. He shook him awake, but gave him a reassuring smile to let him know that he wasn't angry as he sheepishly apologized.

He was glad that Davis wasn't nervous and secretly wished he had such confidence. Or at least that he could give some to Izzy.

"T-tai? I'm not sure I can do this."

"You'll be fine, Izzy. We practiced in front of the others, remember?"

"That's not the same as going up before the whole _government!_ I feel like I'm on the verge of regurgitation!"

"…Huh?"

"I said I think I'm going to barf!"

"Take deep breaths, Izzy, just take deep breaths."

"Right. You're right… okay… I am calming down… Just need to relax my heart rate. It's a simple matter of explanation and then these legislators will see that—"

"Mr. Izumi?" called the chairman of the committee.

_"Augh!_ Y-yes?"

"I asked you, are you ready to give your testimony, young man?" the chairman asked, his voice stern, but still patient and not unkind.

"What? O-oh, yes, sir, I'm sorry!" he said, gathering his notes.

Tai took a deep breath and tensed up. This was important. What he and Izzy and Davis did today might have a huge effect on not only their lives, but the lives of all Digidestined all across the world. After Apocalymon, the world learned of the Digital World, but it seemed that it was sealed off from Earth. But now everyone knew the two worlds were linked and that digimon were here to stay. That's when people like Representative Daigo started speaking up and demanding that digimon and Digidestined needed to be regulated. He argued that digimon were living weapons, and that meant they needed to be limited, licensed, and, on the most extreme side of things, that if digimon were not actively trying to stop a dangerous rogue digimon, that they should stay in the Digital World until they were needed. And there were still scarier things people were talking about…

But that was why Tai, Izzy, and Davis had answered the call when the Digidestined had been called on to testify before the newly-formed Special Committee for Digital Lifeform Concerns. They had a chance to change a few minds before a new law was drafted and passed. And since Japan was the country with the most Digidestined and therefore the most digimon, what happened here was bound to have an effect on how Digidestined were treated _everywhere._ That was why they cut their hair, put on their best suits, and now were standing before some of the most powerful people in the national government. He steadied his nerves and tried to send some good vibes in Izzy's direction. _Come on, Izzy,_ Tai thought. _Agumon, Tentomon, and all the others are counting on us._

"Yes, ah, h-hello everyone," Izzy began.

"Could you please state your full name and position for the record, young man?"

"Yes, sir. My name is Koushiro Izumi, and I'm a student." He paused and then added. "And I'm also a Digidestined."

"Very good, young man. Now, could you please state how _you_ feel about all this?"

"Yes, sir. Well, I… we, that is, all the Digidestined feel that regulating us and our companions would pose a serious potential risk for both the safety of the nation and the safety of the world. Additionally, it is our feeling that such legislation would directly violate our civil liberties guaranteed to us under the Constitution."

The chairman and all the committee members exchanged looks. "Oh," said the chairman. "That was… quite… direct." He smiled, and Tai felt he looked a bit condescending. "There's no need to use up so much of your vocabulary, young man."

Izzy felt his cheeks burn, but Tai rose up behind him and blurted out, "Don't worry, sir, Izzy always talks like that. He's not running out of big words any time soon."

This drew good-natured laughter from several representatives surrounding them and they both looked up when they heard cheers from the balcony. Seated above them were all the others, lined up to watch and give them support. There was Kari, Yolei, Ken, Matt and TK, Sora, Joe, Cody, all lined up in one row of seats.

"Well… I see you've brought some of your companions with you. We have you, as well as, let's see I've got a list here... Mr. Taichi 'Tai' Kamiya, Daisuke 'Davis' Motomiya, Yamato 'Matt' Ishida— the heck is with all these nicknames?!"

"Uh, sir?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. Well, when we called on the Digidestined to testify, it was decided that Mr. Kamiya and Mr. Motomiya there as major leaders of your group, should testify about your individual objections for this proposed law. But you're here to tell us more about these creatures called digimon, correct?"

"That is correct, sir."

"Then you may proceed."

Izzy took a deep breath. He had notes, he had charts, and he did his best to explain several of the basics of the Digital World. He explained that the Digital World was not contained on the Internet and couldn't just be hacked or deleted, but rather that it was composed of data taken _from_ the Internet, and that the flow of data from it was what allowed the Digital World to function. He went on to explain what digivices were, what the stages of digivolution were, the digiports, and so on. He spoke for almost an hour, answering questions as they were asked until finally, exhausted and sweating, he was allowed to sit down.

"Good job, Izzy," Tai said.

Izzy smiled weakly as he sat back in his seat. "I feel that they understand a little more now, Tai… but it's up to you and Davis to convince them not to pass that law."

Tai nodded.

"For our next testimony, we have Mr. Taichi Kamiya. Mr. Kamiya, are you able to speak to us, or would you like for us to call for a recess?"

Tai suddenly thought of Mimi, imagining her blurting out "Ooh, I didn't know adults took recess anymore!" The thought made him smile. She had sent an email wishing them all luck, even though she was still in New York at the time.

"Yes, sir," Tai answered, as he stood up and walked to the podium before the committee. He felt his pulse quicken and momentarily felt intimidated as he looked around and felt himself surrounded by the stares of these stone-faced glowering old men. Part of him felt merely angry, and he sympathized with Davis when he had earlier railed against these… these _bureaucrats_ who felt like they had to stick their noses everywhere when they weren't wanted. But he calmed himself and readied his nerves. He thought of Agumon, and it all fell into place.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the committee… I used to be the 'Leader' of the Digidestined, but it's just something that the others called me. I'm not sure what you think of me or what that term means… 'Digidestined,' I mean. But here's the thing: it's not a job. We're not a gang. It's not something we can choose to stop doing. Being Digidestined is part of who we _are_. We object to a law that tells us we need the government to tell us when and where we can be ourselves."

The chairman nodded appreciatively. "Quite an opening statement, Mr. Kamiya."

"Thank you, sir."

"But how do you answer those who worry about the future? About the safety of the country?"

"I know you all worry about those of us with digimon… you wonder how we can be responsible when our friends, our digimon, are so powerful. That's fine, I understand it. But if there's ever a crisis that we can help with, like evil digimon attacking the city or just some major crisis… wouldn't you rather have us here instead of waiting for us to go to the Digital World and sign a bunch of paperwork before we can help people?"

"Well… yes, of course, but that doesn't mean we can't streamline the process. Perhaps have some Digidestined always on standing duty…"

"Like I said, this isn't a job. We all have lives. I like soccer. My friend up there, Sora, likes tennis. Yolei's the president of the computer club at Odaiba elementary. Izzy here is the president of the computer club at our junior high. Davis here doesn't want to be a soldier on duty when he grows up… he wants to open a noodle cart!"

There was another chorus of laughter and Davis blushed. "It's not that funny," he grumbled.

"The point is," Tai continued, "that we Digidestined want to help. And we will. We will _always_ help when we can. But we're ordinary citizens. And honestly, regulating digimon is… well…" Here he trailed off. This next part was something they might not be ready for.

"Go on, young man. What is it you have to say?"

Tai took a deep breath. "Izzy, tell him about the new digimon."

The chairman frowned. "What do you mean 'new' digimon?"

Izzy stood up. "Sir, I run a network. A, uh, mailing list of Digidestined from all over the world. After defeating MaloMyotismon, I actually got the chance to meet a lot of them in person. It was very intriguing and the logistics of communicating with such a diverse—"

"Izzy!"

"Right, sorry, Tai." He laughed nervously and cleared his throat. "In recent times, I've gotten reports from other Digidestined all over the world that new, usually low-level digimon, have been appearing in every corner of the globe."

This sent a wave of murmurs through the crowd.

"You see?!" Daigo exclaimed, standing up from his seat. "Even now, digimon are invading—"

"Hey, wait your turn!" Davis shouted, standing up from his own seat. "Just let him finish before you go giving everyone the wrong idea!"

"Wh-what?! How dare you, you—"

"Order, order!" the chairman called, banging a gavel. "This hearing will come to order!" When the room quieted down, he asked Izzy to continue.

"All right… Well, sir, these digimon… they aren't allied or partnered with any Digidestined. They seem to have come here to Earth by sheer will. They are here because they _wished_ to be here. They don't have any Digidestined partner with a digivice, but it seems most of them have managed to make friends with humans and have even begun to integrate into their communities."

The committee was quiet then, but one member sat forward and asked, "Well, what does this mean if they aren't Digidestined partners and they aren't invaders?"

"We believe that they are here merely to make friends and live among humans. Due to the fact that they usually bond with one human in particular, we can consider them a new kind of non-Digidestined 'partner' digimon. And they are coming at an increasing rate. It is possible we are witnessing the start of a great phenomenon."

"What phenomenon?" the chairman asked.

"W-well… that is…"

Tai took the initiative. "We don't know for certain, sir. But it is entirely possible that these unallied digimon are just the beginning of a new partnership between both worlds. There is no way to simply stop these digimon from coming, and there is no reason to send them back when they are being welcomed into cities and towns and homes across the world. Who knows? In the future, maybe there will be a digimon partner for everyone on Earth!"

This started another outburst of excited chatter, some fearful, some merely intrigued, but the chairman banged his gavel and called for order until the room again quieted down.

"Mr. Kamiya… these are not small matters. In some ways, this makes the issue even more relevant."

"Yes, sir, I know."

"How can you expect us to calmly stand aside and do nothing when such powerful living weapons are now gathering amongst us—"

"They are _not_ weapons, darn it!" Davis cried. The whole room went silent, but Davis didn't falter for a moment. "Digimon aren't guns or knives or bombs… they're just like us! Veemon gets up early in the morning to watch cartoons and he makes me get up with him when he wants breakfast. We play soccer and I just started him on the soccer team at school! We were just getting used to not making our digimon hide and now you want to make them go away? Please, sir, digimon aren't weapons… they're our friends!"

This impassioned plea silenced the room, but Tai and Izzy exchanged glances and they then looked up at their comrades in the balcony. "Davis is right, sir," Tai said. "We don't feel like our digimon, who have done their best to protect us and both our worlds, should have to hide in our backpacks and duffel bags anymore." He grinned. "Okay, guys, come on out!"

From the various bags, duffel bags, backpacks, and other things the Digidestined carried with them, their digimon, hidden from sight the whole time, emerged into plain view. The room erupted into fascinated and astonished cries as these creatures, these _digimon_, were now here amongst them. Agumon pulled himself from Tai's duffel bag and walked over to take place aside his partner.

"Are you sure about this, Tai?" Agumon asked.

"Well, it's too late to back out now, buddy," Tai said.

"Good point," Agumon agreed. Then he looked at the chairman of the committee, who stared at the unfolding scene with utter disbelief. "Who's that, Tai?"

"That's the chairman, Agumon," Tai replied.

"Really? A chair man? He looks like a regular man to me, Tai."

This actually snapped the crowd out of its trance and brought a wave of laughter. The tension in the room felt like it lifted significantly and Tai smiled. "Mr. Chairman, members of the committee… this is Agumon, my digimon partner, and my best friend."

"And I'm Veemon!" Veemon exclaimed. The others turned to stare at him. "What?" he asked defensively. "I'm not allowed to introduce myself?"

"He does have a point, Izzy," Tentomon said.

"Yes… yes he does," Izzy said, slowly breaking into a smile. "Members of the committee, this is Tentomon."

"Hey, do we get to introduce ourselves too?" Patamon called down from his new perch on TK's head.

And soon, all the digimon had been introduced and by the time the hearing was adjourned, the feeling of doom and gloom was all but gone. The committee said they would hear more testimony the next day, but it was pretty clear that the day had been successful and no law was going to be passed. As they all rode home in two different government vans, they chatted excitedly about how great and wonderful the future was going to be.

Except for one brief moment when Cody leaned over to Izzy to ask him a question. "Izzy… the whole point here is that we Digidestined are the good guys. Just ordinary people, right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Well… what happens if some Digidestined partners really _do_ become criminals? What happens then?"

"Um… well, that's a very good question, Cody… uhh…"

"Hey, don't worry about that, Cody," Joe said, interjecting. "If any Digidestined really did turn bad, then he'd be a criminal just like any other person."

"But the police couldn't stop a big, powerful digimon by themselves!" he cried. "Think of all the officers… we can't ask them to fight a digimon like that."

"I guess that's true," Joe replied. But then he shrugged, saying, "I guess we'd have to stop him. But seeing as how together we've saved the entire world _twice_, I don't see how any one Digidestined could stand a chance!"

* * *

**June 2003 (Present Time):**

From the observation deck of Tokyo Tower, Jin Takamura gazed out at the city. Hanging onto the handrail before him, Scarmon was keeping a low profile for the time being.

"Nice view, isn't it?" Jin asked.

"It's okay," Scarmon said. "Cities are cities. They're big, they have a lot of humans, and the wildlife is easy to catch and eat. It's easy to survive, but I miss the Digital World now that we spent some time there. It's fun to hunt things, fight things. Occasionally kill things."

"Oh, we'll get that chance," Jin remarked. "Hey, you remember how I used to say that we'd have tons of fun wrecking the place if we ever returned to Tokyo? Smashing stuff, eating whatever we wanted, no being pushed around, turning the tables on the cops?"

"Yeah… never happened because you got that plan to get to New York and blow a bunch of it up. And then _that _never happened."

"Exactly." Jin's smile became a tight, menacing grin and he stared out at the city with a narrow, cold gaze. "Well, I owe you a good time. In fact, I think I owe this whole city a good time. I think it's time to throw a little party."

"Sounds good. What about the Digidestined?"

"I know they'll come around to see the truth. Just like we did."

"What if they don't?"

Jin chuckled and his eyes widened. He clenched a fist and said, "This party is happening with or without them. Either way, it's all the same in the end… for us, our friends, the other Digidestined, and everyone else. This whole city's going to _burn."_

* * *

**BEGIN "THE DOOMSDAY FESTIVAL" ARC**

**To be continued…**


	22. Guillotine, Part I

**Chapter Twenty:**

**Guillotine, Part 1**

* * *

"That looks very good on you, sir," said the salesclerk.

"Thanks. It's been a while since I wore something like this," the young man said.

"It… is rather expensive, sir," the salesclerk said, eyeing the young man carefully. In his cargo pants, gray t-shirt, and with his noticeably unkempt appearance, the youth didn't look like the average customer at this store. It was expensive and catered to high-class businessmen who wanted suits and ties and other clothes and exuded their wealth and success. One couldn't entirely blame the salesclerk for wondering if this rough-looking youth was able to pay for the stylish black trenchcoat he was now wearing, even if it was on clearance for being out of season.

"It won't be a problem," the young man said, turning to grin at the salesclerk in a way that suddenly made him feel very uncomfortable. "Hey, I'd like you to meet my companion, by the way," he continued, unzipping the small leather bag he carried. Out of it, shocking the salesclerk badly enough that he let out a yelp, popped Scarmon, his teeth barred and gleaming. And his partner, Mr. Jin Takamura, stepped in close to the salesclerk, his sly grin looking even more sinister and mean-spirited. "Do me a favor and let everyone know that a Digidestined was responsible."

"R-responsible for what?" the salesclerk whimpered.

_"This," _Jin replied, and snapped his fingers. Instantly, Scarmon vanished and Venomon appeared in his place towering over the salesclerk and instantly terrifying everyone else in the store. "Venomon, mess this place up."

And then he stood there, watching the people run in terror as Venomon tore through the place, upturning and throwing the clothes racks, smashing mirrors, and splintering the dressing rooms. One guy even ran out in nothing but his underwear. While everyone else ran, Jin walked casually to the abandoned cash register and opened it, helping himself to the cash inside. He also noticed an expensive pair of designer sunglasses and put them on as well.

As the sounds of sirens began to fill the air, Venomon de-digivolved and the pair of them casually exited out the back.

"That was fun," Scarmon said. "Where next?"

"Next, we track down some people in Ikebukuro," Jin said. "If this party's going to be set up, we'll need help sending out the invitations."

* * *

In a cramped bedroom in Odaiba, a meeting was being held. A gathering of heroes, you might say. The apartment belonged to the Izumi family, and the group consisted of several young heroes and their partners. As of late, they'd been riding a wave of popularity. They were the Digidestined, the adored heroes of Japan. Only a few months earlier, they had successfully defeated Armagemon. Four months prior to that, they'd defeated MaloMyotismon. Saving the world twice in less than six months was a good way to make a name for oneself, and it was looking like the world was actually beginning to trust digimon thanks to their efforts.

Until now, that is. That morning a digimon and, allegedly, a _Digidestined_ attacked the city. And the news had just hit that another attack had been made on a men's clothing store. As soon as they heard the news, phone calls were made and plans were cancelled and they all gathered in Izzy's bedroom. Over a week ago, they'd discovered that they couldn't enter the Digital World. Izzy had been doing his best to calm the other Digidestined around the world. Some of them had been lucky, like themselves, and had their digimon with them. Others had been separated and didn't know when they'd see their friends again. Until the barrier blocking the digiports went down, they were totally stuck.

Since then, there had been a sort of unease, a quiet, foreboding feeling that haunted them. They kept up appearances, pretended everything was fine, but the rumors were starting to fly and it was only going to be a matter of time before the news got out that the Digidestined, the saviors of the world, were powerless.

"First that barrier goes up, and now this?!" Davis exclaimed. "Who is this kid and who does he think he is?!"

"Easy, Davis," Tai said. "We don't know who this person is. Maybe this is just some trick or maybe the reports got it wrong."

"I sure hope so," Kari said, looking down. She wasn't convinced. Something in her gut told her this was all _his_ doing. That thing in her dreams. The red-eyed man.

"Wait a minute, everyone," Sora said, "where's Ken? Shouldn't he be here too?"

"He's visiting some relatives in Fukushima," Yolei replied. "He hasn't seen them in a while, so… maybe we shouldn't bother him."

"I really think we should at least try to call him," Cody remarked. "He would tell us if something like this happened when we weren't around."

"Well, maybe so," TK added. "Then again… this kind of thing might upset him."

"How?" Davis asked.

Matt spoke up then. "He was the Digimon Emperor once. Hearing about some other Digidestined kid turning bad… who knows how that might make him feel."

"Well, I don't think we should ignore him," Joe said. "This is the kind of thing he might care about even more than the rest of us."

"Good point, Joe," Tai said. Then he turned to Izzy. "Izzy, I hate to keep asking about it, but—"

"No, there hasn't been any change in the digiports at all lately. They're still unresponsive to our digivices."

"But there's Mimi and those other kids in New York!" Yolei exclaimed. "I thought you said they were able to open them!"

"Yes, but… I haven't heard anything from Mimi in a long time. She sent an email, but I find it difficult to follow." He held up a printout of the email.

"Let me see that," Tai said, snatching it. "Let's see… 'Dear Izzy'—"

"Do the voice," Matt said, grinning.

"What? I, uh…"

"Go on, we know you can," Sora added, matching Matt's grin.

"Oh fine… 'Dear Izzy,'" Tai said, imitating Mimi's high pitched voice. The others snickered. It was silly, but perhaps this would lighten the heavy mood that had fallen over all of them. "'We found another Digidestined and she's a girl and from Canada! Did you know that Canada has a leaf on their flag? And they make a lot of yummy maple syrup!' Wait, what?"

"Keep – heh heh – keep reading, Tai," Izzy said through his snickering.

"Right, uh… 'We think there's another Digidestined in Mexico, so we're going to drive there! It's going to be fun and I wish you and the others could be here! Ooh, we could get a tour bus!'"

"That's Mimi, all right," Joe said.

"'Sincerely,' …Mimi!" Tai said, shouting the last part.

"Wait, why did you say it like that?" Davis asked.

"No, really, it's Mimi!" Tai exclaimed, and pointed behind them. They all turned and, sure enough, standing in the doorway, plain as day, was Mimi Tachikawa.

She smiled at them, relieved to see some familiar faces. "Hi everyone," she said tiredly. "It's good to see you."

There was an instant clamor and a rush of hugs and greetings and a flurry of questions before Mimi finally managed to calm them all down. It was then that they noticed that there were two others standing right behind her.

"Some of you already know Michael," she said.

"Well hel-_lo!"_ Yolei said, pushing forward.

Michael smiled. "Nice to see you all again," he said. "For those that don't know me, I'm Michael Washington. It's nice to meet you."

"And this, um," Mimi was hesitant. A still-despondent Amanda was just behind them. "This is Amanda Giroux, from Canada."

The others noticed her downcast gaze and tired look and weren't quite sure what to do next. Then, as if waking from a trance, she slowly looked up and, in broken Japanese, she greeted them with a stiff bow: _"YoroSHIku oNEgai shiMAsu."_

Politely, they all likewise returned the bow and greeted her back.

"But hold on, Mimi," Sora said, breaking the sudden silence, "it's great to see you, but what are you doing here? And how did you get here?"

"It's a long story," she replied, "but we came here to tell you something. We know who attacked the city. He's a friend of ours named Jin Takamura."

* * *

"Watch the card, everyone, watch the card!" said the man with the frizzy hair. "Find the Queen and double your bet!" He rapidly moved the three cards around on a cheap plastic table, and a few people, just kids in high school or junior high, watched his skillful, speedy movements as if mesmerized. They were standing in an alley behind a large building, away from prying eyes.

"I choose… this one!" said the young boy who pointed to the first card. The dealer smiled knowingly and turned it over revealing not a Queen, but a 10.

"Sorry, but you'll have to watch more carefully. Better luck next time!" he said, grabbing up the 1000 yen note the boy had placed on the table.

"No way, I saw it!"

"The hand is quicker than the eye. _Your_ eye at least." He grinned and glanced over at the girl standing behind him. "Hey, is that your girlfriend? You'll need to try harder to impress her."

The boy turned red and the girl behind him laughed. "You can beat him, Tanaka-kun!" she exclaimed.

And then a new voice loudly proclaimed, "I doubt it! Ogawa here has the fastest hands in the city."

They all turned to see Jin Takamura, dressed in black and gray, casually strolling up the alley. With his black trenchcoat and sunglasses and confident, deliberate walk, he projected an air of importance and it was enough to make the others step out of his way.

"I'll take a shot," he said, and slammed a 10,000 yen note on the table, immediately impressing the onlookers.

The dealer, Ogawa, stared long and hard at Jin. He didn't recognize him, but there was something familiar about him. "10,000 yen! Okay, we've got a bet! Find the lady, find the lady!" He immediately began moving the three cards, this time so rapidly that his hands were almost a blur, the path of the Queen totally untraceable. "Follow the Queen, the hand is quicker—"

Jin's hand suddenly shot out and seized Ogawa by the wrist. Too shocked to do anything, Jin then reached into his sleeve and pulled out a Queen of Hearts.

"Found her," he said, grinning slyly.

"Hey, he put it in his sleeve! He cheated! I knew it!" the boy said.

"No," Jin said. "He never said he wouldn't hide it up his sleeve. He just said to follow the Queen. And you didn't follow it."

The boy turned red. "That doesn't matter! I want—"

Jin reached into his coat and pulled out a pocket knife. He glanced over his shoulder at the boy, who turned from red to white in half a second.

"Ah, n-no, it's okay, I don't want it!" he said back away. "You keep it, it's fine!" he cried as he turned and ran along with his friends.

Ogawa slowly reached into his pocket for his own switchblade, wondering if this was going to get ugly. But Jin still seemed familiar, even if he didn't recognize him, and something about his demeanor said he wasn't here to hurt him.

Jin smiled and released Ogawa's wrist at last. "You don't remember me, do you, Ogawa-san?"

Ogawa squinted at him. "I know you… but…"

Jin removed his sunglasses, revealing his steely gray eyes. "How about now?"

Ogawa said nothing at first, but then his face lit up in wonderment and recognition. "Takamura-kun?!"

Jin spread his arms wide in a flashy gesture as if to say, "Ta-da!"

"Takamura! The heck, I never thought I'd hear from you again, what happened?!"

Jin gathered up his things and put his arm around Ogawa's shoulder. "Let's go somewhere and talk. Tell me a few things and I'll share some of my secrets too." He held up the 10,000 yen note he'd used to place his bet. "Keep this, by the way," he said as he placed it into Ogawa's shirt pocket.

A short time later, the two were sitting in Ogawa's tiny apartment, not far from where Jin himself had spent his early childhood.

"The old Three Card Monte, Ogawa?" Jin asked as Ogawa set down some lukewarm tea. "You were doing that back when you were a high school dropout. Last time I saw you, you were on Kusanagi's crew, doing protection. What the heck happened?"

"Snot-nosed punk," Ogawa said, though he grinned as he said it. "I taught you how to deal cards when you were just eight years old. Following around the older kids like you were one of the gang. I bet that drove your mom crazy."

Jin's expression momentarily darkened, but only for a moment. "Yeah," he said finally. "But it got me a lot of stuff from the other kids. Helped me figure out that I could just trick them out of stuff instead of just beating them up for it."

"You were the toughest little brat in elementary school," Ogawa agreed. "And then you disappeared for all that time. Three years. Until last spring."

Jin remembered. It was springtime when he finally returned from the Digital World. Three years in the real world had gone by, five for him, and the old life he knew was gone. And that was when he decided to do something grand, something amazing, to punish the corrupt and the guilty. He settled on going to America, to New York City, to bring a great city to its knees. But then he'd met Mimi and—

He winced, his head hurting all of a sudden. And the moment passed as his thoughts turned to one thing: _New York had been spared, but things would be different now._

To get to New York, he'd needed transport. And that meant documents, arrangements, a lot of other things he couldn't do on his own. So he tracked down the gang members, the Yakuza, who had been his idols growing up even as his mother warned him against becoming like his father. Using his digimon, he pulled off a few high-profile robberies and came to the Inugami Clan with an offering. He would pull some jobs for him if they did him some favors in return.

That was how Jin Takamura gained the money and the information that led him to New York. Where everything would have come together if only that girl—

A piercing pain shot through him again and this time Ogawa noticed. Jin sucked in a deep breath and finally the feeling passed as he thought not about Mimi, not about friends, but on the future, on the plan…

"The Inugami clan," Jin said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "What happened?"

"You all right? You don't look—"

"Just answer the question," Jin growled.

"All right, all right, fine," Ogawa said. "Well, when you showed up with all that money, it got some of the bosses thinking. Things had been kinda rough when you showed up. You didn't want a cut, you just wanted some weapons training, some documents, and some English lessons. Don't think I ever saw someone study English that hard."

"Because you had a chance to see all that studying in high school, right?" Jin asked sarcastically.

"Heh. Got me there." Ogawa slurped his tea, making a face at the dull, grassy taste. "So, anyway, the bosses decided to expand the territory, get into other businesses, things like that. But they got too greedy, got the attention of the cops and some of the other clans. Once that happened, things fell apart. Now, every one of the higher ups is either in jail or dead. We have a few lieutenants left, but all the big _Oyabun_ are gone. Inugami's washed up, and there's just a few splinter gangs fighting for the scraps."

"What about Suzuhara? The tech guy."

"The guy's a shut in. Think he does identity theft, hacks ATMs and stuff. He nearly got caught a few months ago."

"Any of your old crew around?"

"A lot of them. The small guys like me weren't worth rounding up, I guess. We're sitting on some weapons and things until we're sure the heat's off."

Jin leaned in close. "Today's your lucky day, Ogawa," he said. "Inugami's going back in business and you can be the new boss."

"What? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Would you like to know how I pulled off those robberies? Would you like to know where that 10,000 note came from? Or _these_?" he asked, pulling out a fat wad of 10k notes from his pocket, causing Ogawa's eyes to go wide.

"Yes," he said, awed by the sight of the money. "How did you do all that by yourself?"

"I didn't," Jin said, putting a small black bag on the table. "I had a good partner in crime." He unzipped the bag and Scarmon stepped out of it, causing Ogawa to stand up from the table, swearing as he gasped.

"This is Scarmon," Jin said.

"Pleasure," Scarmon grunted.

"It… talks?" Ogawa asked.

"He can do a lot more than just talk," Jin said. "He's a digimon." Here he held up his digivice. "And I'm his partner." He chuckled, causing Scarmon to join in. "And together, the two of us can do a _lot_ of damage."

"But… aren't you Digi… uh, Digi—"

"Digidestined."

"Yeah. Aren't you supposed to be… the good guys?"

Jin rolled his eyes. "I don't really _do_ the whole good guy thing very well." And here his tone became serious. "I found that out the hard way."

"So… what do you want?"

Jin and Scarmon looked at each other and shared a mutual laugh. "We want to hold a little celebration. A festival for the city of Tokyo."

"A… wait, what?"

"The point is," Jin said, standing up and walking over to Ogawa, "I've got more power here with me in your kitchen than you have ever seen in your life. Help me throw this party and I'll make sure that _this,"_ and here again he held up the wad of money, "is only the beginning. So… interested?"

Ogawa looked from Jin to his digimon and back. Then he looked around at his crappy little apartment and realized how far he'd fallen from his days when he wore a nice suit and people got out of his way and he didn't have to rely on cheap card tricks and cheating high school kids to make a living. And here was this kid, this young man who looked older than he really should in a very nice coat with all the answers. And the greed began to grow and his fears were drowned out by it.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked finally.

* * *

"…And when we went through the Digiport to follow him, we ended up here!" Mimi said, at last finishing her tale.

The others looked on in shock. Sora had her hand over her mouth. Yolei came up and hugged her. Mimi heaved a sigh, but managed to not cry.

"I can't believe it," Joe said. "That all this happened…"

"I guess that friend of yours, Jin, must be really upset about losing his friend," Matt remarked.

"Even if that's true," Cody said, speaking up, "what does he think smashing up the city will do? Someone could get hurt!"

"Cody's right!" Davis exclaimed. "We need to find him and stop him before that happens!"

"Wait!" Mimi cried. "Jin's… he's…"

Michael had been standing by while Mimi did most of the telling. Occasionally he chipped in for parts of the story to fill in a few gaps, but he still felt a little self-conscious among all of the Digidestined. He only knew the younger ones very well, really. However, now was a time when he saw Mimi uncertain how to express exactly what she felt, so it was time to jump back in the fray.

"Jin is not a bad person," Michael said. "I… I didn't always think that, but he's actually very brave and dedicated to his friends. None of us really know what he's thinking, but if we can find him and stop him without hurting him or his digimon, I think we should try."

Mimi turned to Michael and smiled. He felt reassured that he'd said the right thing by her warm reaction.

"Okay Michael," Davis said, "we'll do our best."

"But if he wants a fight and we have no choice," Tai said, clenching his fist, "then we'll give him a fight. Right, everyone?"

"Right!" the digimon all shouted.

While all this went on, as they all talked and debated and went on and on, Amanda sat in the corner, still clutching the bag of Ángel's things. She sat there, saying nothing, virtually ignored as they chattered on in Japanese.

_"Demo Jin-san wa honto ni yasashii wa!"_ Mimi was saying.

_ "Sore wo iittemo, dou sureba ii desuka Mimi-chan?" _Matt asked.

_ "Jou-sempai ga wakatta ne?" _she said, looking to Joe desperately.

_ "Ah… un. Tatakaku nakereba ii desu kedo—" _Joe said.

_ "Yare yare… ano Takamura, honto ni oretachi wo taoseru ka?"_ Davis said, cutting Joe off. _"Isshou ni tatakaeba, zettai ni katsu da zo!"_

_ "Daisuke-san, yoko kiite kudasai,"_ Michael said patiently. _"Jin-san wa totemo tsuyoi. Digitaru Warudo kara modotta toki wa…"_

And on they went. She never noticed how difficult it was to understand Japanese without yellow subtitles at the bottom of a TV screen. She could read their emotions and guess, but the effort was exhausting and about halfway through Mimi's telling of their adventures, it all began to blend together. Every so often she heard Mimi call her "Amanda-chan" and she looked up, but she still had a hard time understanding what went on. Perhaps if Mimi had just summarized the whole thing…

_Great,_ she thought. _I finally get to come to Japan and meet the Digidestined… and it has to be like this. I can't even understand them, nevermind talk to them. This sucks!_ She felt a lump form in her throat. _I feel so horrible… they probably think I'm some idiot. And they never even got to meet Ángel! Why did it have to be this way? Why…_

"Ah, e-excuse me," a voice said haltingly. She looked up and saw Izzy standing before her. "Ah, hello. I am Izumi Koushiro. Please call me Izzy."

Amanda just blinked at him. He blushed slightly, self-conscious of his low English skills.

"Heh heh… Are you Amanda Giroux from Canada? I remember from email!"

She nodded slowly. "Yes, I'm on your email list. I sent you an email recently."

"Oh, yes! You have great ideas!" He seemed to be struggling for something to say. "Um… _eeto… eeto… _Computers… are… very cool!"

She smiled in spite of herself. "Yes. Yes, they are."

He smiled back, then momentarily took on an expression of panic. "Oh! It is first time I meet you! Not email!" He bowed awkwardly. "It's nice to meet you!"

Amanda was usually the one with awkward reactions, so seeing this boy so flustered as he struggled to communicate in English was both amusing and oddly endearing. "Nice to…" She stopped herself and stood up. _"YoruSHIku," _she said, returning the bow.

"I am sorry your friend," he said. "Sorry for Ángel."

She drew in a breath, keeping herself composed. "Thank you," she said.

"Amanda?" Michael called. "Amanda, if you're ready, we should get going."

She turned to Izzy who was still smiling warmly. She couldn't think of a single thing to say in Japanese, so she simply extended her hand and shook his. "I am very happy to meet you. Let's talk again soon," she said.

"Oh, yes!" he said, nodding emphatically.

And with that, Amanda Giroux parted with Mimi and Michael from the apartment of her idol, the great Koushiro Izumi, the computer genius whose emails helped her feel like she was part of something far bigger than her small town and which inspired her back when she first became a Digidestined.

"What were you all talking about?" she asked on the elevator ride back to the first floor.

And to everyone's surprise, it was Penguinmon who spoke up. "Oh, they were talking about Jin and how they should try to talk to him. They don't really want to hurt him and Michael was warning them about how tough Jin and Scarmon can be when… why are you all staring at me?"

They all looked at each other before returning to Penguinmon. "Um, Penguinmon," Michael said finally, "how did you know what we were saying?"

"What do you mean?"

"They were talking in Japanese!" Amanda exclaimed. "You don't understand Japanese!"

Penguinmon blinked. "Oh… uh, actually, I guess I do."

"Don't just say that casually!" she shouted. "And how did that even happen?!"

"I get it! It was like with Scarmon and Muchomon and Spanish!" Betamon said. Everyone momentarily winced at the mention of Muchomon's name, but he pressed on. "When Penguinmon and I DNA-digivolved, we shared some of each other's knowledge!"

"Ah, that's right, and since Michael taught Betamon Japanese, I guess I know it now too!"

"And because of your time with Amanda, I know that the Konami Code is Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A!"

They all stared at him.

"Also a little French."

"I guess your influence is showing, Amanda," Penguinmon said with a grin.

This failed to draw the reaction he was going for, however. His partner just heaved a sigh as the elevator beeped and opened on the ground floor. She stepped off the elevator silently as the rest of them followed.

"Amanda, I thought you'd be happy," Mimi said. "Now your digimon can help you translate everything here in Japan!"

"I'm torn," she said tiredly. "On one hand, yes, it is wonderful that Penguinmon can do that, but… now I'm the only one here who can't speak Japanese at all."

"Would it help if I taught you some things?" Penguinmon asked.

She looked down without enthusiasm. "After everything else… what's the point?"

"Amanda…"

"Let's just go," she said softly.

"Amanda's right," Mimi said. "Come on, everyone, let's go!" Her sudden burst of energy was lost in an instant and she said, "Wait, where are we going?"

Michael chuckled. "I know a good place to stay. Let's take the train and head for Azabu."

"Azabu?!" Mimi exclaimed.

* * *

Behind a two-story arcade, there was a gathering in an alley. One of the former Inugami clan members along with two of his allies was there talking to a gathering of poor young delinquents. They had been lured back there with cigarettes and compliments about their gaming and brought to parties where these men before them gave them booze and talked about how they could make money just by being tough and not caring what people thought. They flashed their cool tattoos and swaggered down the street and people got out of their way.

It was hard to deny the appeal… for kids with nothing, it looked cool to be _yakuza._

"Now you all want to join the Inugami clan, right?" the leader was saying. "Well that's good, and we're glad to take you. But if you want in, we're gonna have tryouts. Tell them how this works, Tomo-kun."

"Right, _aniki!_" the younger man said, addressing him with the honorable familial term. "Now if you want to join with us, it takes more than attitude. You've gotta show us that you've got guts! So, if you want in, we're gonna have to test you. We're gonna pair you off, and then you're going to fight each other—"

"Wait, what?! You didn't say—"

"Hey, no talking! We do it this way and you can like it or you can shut up and go home! You little wimp, if you want to make it, you've gotta be stronger than the other guy. So now you get to prove it! We got where we are by being tough. You want to work with the biggest, baddest, and toughest, don't you?"

"My thoughts exactly!" said a new voice from the end of the alleyway. They all turned and saw Jin striding up the alleyway, a small crew consisting of Ogawa and a few other allies backing him up (although they looked nervous and they were standing further behind him than they probably should have if they wanted to look intimidating). The younger delinquents parted the way, but the three adults looked at this mere child before them without a hint of apprehension.

"What the... who the hell are you, you little punk?" the leader demanded. "And what's that worthless rat Ogawa doing here? Are you trying to muscle your way back in?! We're the real Inugami, not some lowlife—"

"Excuse me," Jin said, "but I was just agreeing with you. You said that these guys should work with the biggest, baddest, and toughest, right? Well," and here he cracked his knuckles, "that's me!"

"You?" the leader said, laughing scornfully. "You think wearing all black and talking tough is gonna scare us? Tomonori, Inafune, get rid of this punk!"

As they advanced on Jin, Ogawa and his crew exchanged worried looks. Jin, however, did move in the slightest or even tense up.

Tomonori rolled up his sleeves. "Shouldn't have come here, you little—"

He never got to finish that sentence because in a flash Jin was upon him, seizing his wrist with one hand as he leaped forward and seized his head with the other. He came forward with such force that he lifted Tomonori off the ground and, pouncing on him with his knees, brought him onto his back. The whole motion was so quick that nobody even had time to react, least of all Tomonori. The wind was knocked from his lungs as Jin landed on him with his full weight. But Jin wasn't finished. As soon as Tomonori hit the ground, Jin stood up, still holding Tomonori's wrist. Locking his arm in one place with his leg, he took hold of the wrist with both arms and simply twisted it around, breaking it.

The entire crowd winced at the audible snapping of bone, but their cries were instantly drowned out by the ear-splitting howl of pain Tomonori let out.

"Quiet!" Jin snarled and stomped on Tomonori's chest, breaking several ribs and successfully silencing him in the process. His eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.

Inafune looked less sure of himself as Jin looked to him, his fierce eyes peeking over his sunglasses. He wore a ferocious grin and eyed Inafune like he was a piece of meat. "Come on, tough guy, don't tell me you're thinking of running!"

Inafune looked to his leader for support, but it was a colossal mistake. In that instant, Jin crossed the distance between them and kicked one of his legs out from under him. As Inafune waved his arms to regain his balance, Jin grabbed one of them and then clotheslined the hapless goon. Once he had Inafune by the arm and the neck, he spun him around once, then slammed him back into the back wall of the arcade. As Inafune staggered, Jin punched him once in the stomach, forcing him to double over. Then Jin grabbed his lowered head and kneed him in the face. Barely conscious, he was helpless as Jin grabbed him by his hair, turned him around, and smashed his face into the concrete wall. He slumped the ground, leaving a splatter of blood on the wall.

The entire area went silent as Jin eyed the leader.

"Was that it?" Jin asked, looking at the leader with mock pity.

_"Kono gaki," _the leader growled. "Don't think that an _Oyabun_ like me will go down as easily as mere _Kobun._" With that, he reached into his coat and pulled out a large dagger. "I'll cut you up for that."

"Oh, wait… we're using weapons now?" Jin asked. "In that case…" He snapped his fingers and the whole crowd suddenly let out a fearful cry. The leader holding the knife only looked puzzled, but that was because he hadn't realized that Venomon had leaped down from the rooftop and landed almost silently behind him. Green venom was already dripping from his fangs as he towered behind the man.

"What?" the leader demanded. "What is it?"

"If we're using weapons," Jin said casually, "then I might as well use mine." The leader became aware of a sudden gust of hot breath on his neck and slowly turned and saw Venomon standing behind him. His eyes went wide at the sight of the tremendous monster and he dropped his knife as his knees went weak.

"Venomon, give him something to think about."

The leader tried to run, but Venomon seized him by the shoulder in his powerful jaws, sinking his fangs deep into the helpless man's flesh. He screamed in sheer terror as Venomon shook him a few times before slamming him into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

"Worthless," Jin muttered. Then he turned to the crowd of terrified delinquents. "These guys convinced you that they were tough? I'm not even as old as some of you are, but I took out two on my own. And with my digimon here," he said, motioning to Venomon, "there's no one who can stand in my way. And that goes for everyone who joins my team."

"Look, Mister, don't hurt us!" one of the younger kids said.

"Hey, hey, relax, I didn't come here to hurt you. I came to save you."

They all looked to each other in confusion.

"See, that guy over there is Ogawa. He taught me all about the gangster life. Made me want to turn _yakuza _myself. The fat guy with the glasses behind him is Suzuhara, and he does computers. The others are more associates. We're the _real_ Inugami clan. And we are offering you all membership. Starting immediately, no fights, no dues." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wad of cash, casually passing them each a few of the 10,000 yen notes. They gawked at their sudden wealth and now they were all hanging on Jin's every word. "As you can see, there are some benefits to hanging with us. And if you join our little party tonight, there will be more. _Lots_ more."

"What… what kind of party?" one of the kids asked cautiously.

"We're holding a little Smash-and-Grab tonight," Ogawa said. "It's—"

"We're gonna have a parade!" Jin said, and his crazed enthusiasm made everyone just a little uncomfortable. "It won't be very long, but I guarantee," and here he turned to Venomon, "the floats are gonna be _awesome."_

A short time later, Ogawa had given their new recruits the details and told them to spread the word. They were on their way back to a warehouse Ogawa had managed to "borrow" off another former associate who had parted ways with it after Venomon "convinced" him.

"How many more splinter groups to deal with, Ogawa?" Jin asked.

"Just two or three," he said, walking alongside Jin. For such a young man, he was amazed at how much authority the boy wielded. _Then again, when you have a vicious, transforming monster that does your bidding, that lends a lot of weight to what you say,_ Ogawa reasoned. "But what's the point of all this… you say you don't want any of the take, you're letting me be in charge, so… what's in it for you?"

Jin smiled. "Suzuhara," he said, seemingly ignoring Ogawa, "did you get that stuff set up?"

"Yeah, I sure did," he replied. "Hey, jeez, could you not walk so fast?"

"No, now keep up, you could stand to burn a few calories," Jin growled. "We need to spread the word if this party is going to be a success."

"You keep talking about parades and festivals and parties, Takamura," Ogawa said. "What are we celebrating?"

"Suzuhara, take this down, okay?" Jin said.

"Uh, okay."

"This party is to celebrate the crumbling of society. The kind of society that left us behind and treated us like nobodies." He chuckled. "Tell that to all the poor street rats and dropouts and derelicts we find. And start handing out the address and get working on the design I told you about. In a few days, this party is going to be citywide event. After that, a national one. Eventually, it's gonna go _global."_

"This, uh," Ogawa said, looking a little shaken, "this is just a sham, right? It's just so we can take advantage of the chaos and all, right?"

"Ogawa, Ogawa, Ogawa," Jin sighed. "Of course it's a sham." And then, meaningfully, _"Everything_ is a sham."

* * *

"Uwaaa!" Mimi intoned as they walked through the door. "It's so big!"

"It's, uh, it's nothing so special," Michael said.

"The heck it's not!" Penguinmon cried. "This place is huge!"

"How many bedrooms are there?" Mimi asked.

"Well, four—"

"FOUR?!" Mimi shouted.

"Hmph," Amanda muttered. "Yeah, yeah, big place… who cares?"

"But Amanda, it _is_ a big place!" Mimi said, spreading her arms wide. "Azabu is one of the most expensive places to live in Tokyo, and that's saying something! And Michael has a penthouse suite with _four_ bedrooms? And a kitchen! And—"

"There's a small laundry room and two bathrooms," Betamon added.

"And those things!" Mimi exclaimed. "This must have cost a fortune, and you're not even here most of the time!"

"Well, it's… you see, back when Dad was in _The Shibuya Coincidence_, he brought Mom and me with him. It was a long shoot, but he really fell in love with Japan and Japanese culture. So he got a little place here. We come here whenever we visit Japan. I learned Japanese when I was here another time. He was in this movie about a spy posing as a Kabuki actor—"

"Yeah, great, more Hollywood crap," Amanda grumbled. "I bet this place costs more in a year than the entire cost of my family's house mortgage."

Michael blushed. "It… well, uh—"

"Amanda," Mimi hissed, "don't be rude! Michael's letting us stay here, so—"

"It's okay, Mimi," Michael said, interjecting himself between the two girls.

"But Michael—"

"Really, it's okay," he said. Then he guided them both down the hallway. "Mimi why don't you take my mother's room? Amanda, the guest bedroom is nice. Why don't you—"

Amanda didn't say another word, but walked through the door and shut it in their faces.

"Amanda?" Michael called. "I… are you all right?"

"I'm going to bed," she muttered.

"That's good. It's been a long day." He searched his mind for something else to say. "Amanda, I… I'm so sorry about… well, I just want you to know we're both here. If you need anything, just let us know, okay?"

There was no response.

"Amanda?"

"Okay," came the reply at last, in a soft, shaky voice.

"Um… I'll keep an eye on her," Penguinmon said. Michael nodded and let the small avian in, shutting the door behind him.

"Mimi, Palmon?" he asked. "It's only the afternoon, but with the time difference, we've been up a long time. Would either of you like to get some sleep?"

"I… I don't know," Mimi asked, and Michael noted with some amusement that she kept eyeing the bathroom next to his mother's bedroom. He and his father had jokingly dubbed it "The Ladies' Room" since it was decorated in pink and its walls were lined with flowery wallpaper. His mother had made it her private bathroom whenever they stayed there.

"I know that look, Mimi," he said, "and you can take a shower if you want. I'm sure we have towels, but I'm not sure about shampoo."

And then Palmon's stomach rumbled. "I could just go for a bite to eat," she said. A chorus of more stomach rumbles was heard and they all shared a laugh. The first real laugh they'd had in 24 hours.

"Well, we don't really keep much food here since we aren't here much. But I think there are a few cans of soup left in our pack and now we have a proper microwave." Michael thought for a moment. "There's a grocery store with a lot of great international food not far from here. I don't know how long we're going to be here, but my father has a stash of Japanese currency here that we can use to get anything we really need."

"Ooh, an international grocery store?" Mimi asked. "That sounds gre-" she stopped, her words garbled by a sudden yawn. She even blinked away tears as she rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry…" she said quietly.

"It's okay, Mimi, I… oh." And then he saw that the tears were not of tiredness, but in fact genuine tears. Tears of sadness, and they were starting to flow more freely.

"I was trying so hard not to cry," she said, laughing in spite of herself. "I guess… I'm tired and hungry and everything's falling apart, so I'm happy over even the littlest things—"

"Whoa, whoa, Mimi, it's okay," Michael said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You're right. It's been a terrible day, so you just stay here and take care of yourself. I'll get a few things to eat. Some fresh fruits and vegetables, some meat, bread, some basics, and we'll have a nice meal later."

"But… are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure," he said, putting on a confident look. "Betamon, let's go to the market. I'll buy you a snack."

"Ooh, ooh, can we get some _Koala no Machi?_" he asked eagerly.

"If they have it," he said with a smile, and the sight of it made Mimi smile a bit as well. And the sight of that smile, that weak, but still good-natured smile, was the only thing he needed to keep going.

* * *

"Do you want anything, Amanda?" Penguinmon asked.

"No," she replied as she changed out of her clothes in the large closet. "Can you believe this? This is just an apartment and even the closet is bigger than the one I have back home."

"Come on, Amanda, this beats staying in a hotel, at least."

"I guess." She came out in a simple nightshirt and pajama bottoms.

"Listen, Amanda, I… isn't there anything I can do for you?"

She blinked slowly, seemingly not even hearing him. Then finally she answered, "I guess I wouldn't mind a glass of water."

"Great! Water!" he said, happy that at last he had something to do. He waddled over to the door and opened it, heading up the hallway to get his partner a drink.

As he did so, Amanda walked by the mirror and looked at herself. "Even uglier than usual," she said to her reflection disgustedly. _Jin, you rat,_ she thought. _You're not the only one who's hurting, but who do you think you are, attacking people, attacking your friends… Oh whatever, it's not like it matters anymore. It's over, Delgado beat us. And now Ángel…_

She looked down at the bag that still contained Ángel's things. She sat down next to it and unzipped it, looking up almost guiltily. She found one of Ángel's old white shirts and pulled it out. She brought it to her face and inhaled deeply. There was the faint scent of sweat, of some kind of spice, perhaps from food, and the pervasive aroma of plants that grew on Folder. _It still smells of him,_ she thought, and the tears began to spill down her face. She zipped up the bag again, but carried the shirt with her as she got in bed.

_Oh Ángel… why did you have to leave me? I miss you so much. This is all of you I have now… why did you leave me behind?..._

Penguinmon returned to see his partner partially tucked in, the white shirt crumpled in her hands and tears streaming down her face. "Amanda!" he cried, dropping the small cup of water on the floor and spilling its contents as he went to her. "Amanda, are you all right?"

"Oh Penguinmon!" she wailed and seized him, sobbing as she held him and the shirt as if they were the two most precious things in the world.

* * *

"Mm!" Betamon said, munching on the dried squid jerky. "Thanks for letting me have a snack, Michael!" Betamon said.

"No problem. I'll let you have the _Koala no Machi_ later, but you should at least have some protein after today. Chocolate shouldn't be the first thing you eat today."

"We were in there an awfully long time, Michael," he said, hopping behind his partner. They drew a few stares from onlookers on the sidewalk, but it looked like Mimi was right… people in Tokyo, as in New York, were starting to get used to the idea of digimon living among them.

"Well, you know what they say… you shouldn't go grocery shopping when you're hungry." He laughed, but that laughter vanished as he heard his digivice beep suddenly. He looked down at the screen and saw a red dot rapidly approaching. He looked up and saw he was near the Azabu-Juuban Station and that the red dot on his digivice was approaching just as a train was pulling in. The digivice would show such a dot if another digivice, and thus another Digidestined, was near. And while it could be one of the other Japanese Digidestined, something told him that it wasn't.

"Jin," he said aloud. There was no way to get on that train in time, it was about to leave. However, he thought fast and saw a good alternative. In front of the station, in typical fashion, there were several taxis. He called to one and he piled in with Betamon.

"Ah… good evening. You are… American?" the cabbie said.

_"Nihongo wo hanasemasu,"_ he said.

"(Oh, good! Young sir, you speak Japanese very well!)" the cabbie remarked.

"(Thank you, but I need you to follow that train that's leaving right now.)"

"(That one? That's the Toei Oedo Line.)" The cabbie followed the train as it moved down the tracks. Michael noted that the red dot was moving away along with the train, confirming his hunch. "(Yes, please hurry!)"

_"Ryokai!"_ the cabbie said, somewhat excited that he was seemingly in a real chase scene like he'd seen in movies a thousand times.

The cab couldn't quite move through traffic as fast as the train, of course, and Michael was sure he'd lost the signal, but when they came to Roppongi station, only one stop away, the signal came back on. The cabbie brought him to the station and Michael quickly paid the cabbie what he owed, then got out and hurried after the signal on foot, still lugging the groceries with him.

"Michael, what's going on?" Betamon asked.

Michael looked around. They were in the Roppongi area, a district within the Minato Ward, not far from Azabu. The place was known for its nightlife and in the early evening things were already starting to come to life. The clubs were displaying their neon signs and the sound of music and wandering crowds of party-goers and clubbers were already occupying sidewalks.

"I… I got a signal on my digivice," he said. "I thought maybe it could be Jin. But… what would he be doing here?"

And then suddenly there was an uproar from a crowd as a young man dressed all in black shimmied up a light post and stood atop it, addressing the crowd below.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he shouted. "It's my pleasure to bring you a special bit of entertainment!"

Michael got closer and instantly saw who it was.

"Jin!" he shouted, but over the din of the crowd, an excitable bunch of hipsters, nobody could hear him.

"Who is that?" several asked.

"Hey, he's got a digivice! He's one of the Digidestined!" said someone, and the crowd roared.

"We're going to have a parade!" Jin continued. "And here, for one night only is the one, the only… Venomon!"

And popping from Jin's bag came Scarmon. He leaped out over the traffic, but glowed and changed into Venomon in mid-air, landing in front of the cars, which honked and nearly drove off the road as he blocked the road. As one of the cars honked, he roared back, drawing a mixture of fear and crazed laughter from the onlookers.

"Venomon, this place looks too clean… let's redecorate!" Jin shouted.

"Got it," Venomon growled. _"Venom Spit!"_ he attacked, and spat several globs of acid at the clubs and bars and restaurants lining the street. This got a more fearful reaction, and an even worse one as Venomon began overturning cars, and darting around smashing tables and throwing them through windows. Finally the crowd realized that this was no mere publicity stunt and began to run. Michael was pushed back, but Betamon had seen enough.

"That's it… _Betamon digivolve to…_ _Seadramon!"_

"Another one!" someone shrieked, and this caused even more panic as people didn't know where to run.

"No, no, it's okay, I'm here to help!" Seadramon said, though it had little effect. "Venomon, stop what you're doing! Listen to me!"

Venomon did turn and snarled at his former comrade. "Seadramon… you'll regret coming here."

"Seadramon, be careful!" Michael called as the two digimon squared off in middle of the street.

"Oh, he's not the one who has to be careful, Preppie." Michael was about to whirl around, but found that Jin had him in a headlock and was dragging him into the now empty parking lot beside one of the nightclubs. He threw him to the ground and stepped back, sizing him up.

"Jin… what are you doing?!" Michael demanded.

"Well, I was trying to throw a party," Jin sighed. "But you and Seadramon aren't on the guest list. And I don't like party crashers."

"Wait, what? Party? What are you talking about?!"

Jin pushed his sunglasses up further on his nose and reached into his shirt, pulling out the Crest of Rage. Michael saw with horror that it was glowing a dull red. And then he realized Jin's intention.

"Jin, don't do it!" he cried. "We talked about this! Whatever's going on, we can still talk about it!"

"It's too late to talk, Michael," Jin said. "It's too late for everything now."

"It's never too late, Jin," Michael said, standing tall. "You of all people should know that."

"Well, I've had a change of heart. A little life lesson. And now I'm going to teach it to you… and your digimon." He turned to Venomon and bellowed, "Venomon, let him have it!"

"Right," Venomon hissed, and began to glow a second time. _"Venomon digivolve to…"_ And soon in his place there stood a massive, saurian creature, covered with bony places along his back. Seadramon balked as his opponent now towered over him, his swinging, axe-like tail casually smashing buildings as it swung from side to side. _"SkullVenomon!"_

"Jin, no!" Michael exclaimed. "Seadramon's only at Champion level! Without Amanda here, we can't DNA-digivolve. This isn't even a fair fight!"

"Life isn't fair, Preppie," Jin said, stepping forward. As he did so, Michael noticed, he put on some black leather gloves, though he couldn't guess the reason. "Life isn't fair at all. But death is." He grinned, and it was a tight, almost painful-looking grin. "Soon we'll all be dead. Once Delgado gets through with us, it'll all be over. Just like with Ángel."

"Jin…"

"But I won't go out with a whimper. I'll go out the way I was always meant to… fighting!"

And before Michael knew what was happening, Jin came forward and delivered a fierce right hook to his jaw. He had barely recovered when Jin was upon him again, this time kicking him in the stomach, leaving him breathless.

"Michael!" Seadramon shouted, and he looked up and saw SkullVenomon. His massive foe picked him up in his jaws and simply tossed him into a building, smashing it to pieces. Seadramon used his Ice Blast attack on his foe, but SkullVenomon simply shook the ice off his face as if he'd been hit with a snowball. He brought his Tail Axe down, intending to cut Seadramon in two, but the serpent managed to swerve out of the way at the last possible second.

"Jin, stop this!" Michael yelled, now starting to get not only more desperate, but much more angry.

"No," Jin said, slowly approaching him. "Now, are you going to just cry and wheeze like the spoiled, rich little baby you are, or are you going to actually fight me?"

"I don't want to," Michael said, standing up uneasily. "But if I have to, I will!"

"There we go!" Jin said, looking happy to hear it. "Now let's see what you've got."

Michael threw several punches, thinking back to the little he'd learned from his experiences in Texas and even watching Jin train Quemamon several days ago. But each punch was deftly blocked, avoided, or deflected by Jin. He didn't look tense, or stressed, or anything other than mildly amused.

"Michael, do you remember when we had that fight that first or second day back in the Digital World?" he asked, making almost casual conversation as Michael tried to land a blow. "You probably thought you had me on even ground, even using my weakened legs against me. But then you had to say that crack about my mother."

"Is that what this is about?" Michael asked, stopping momentarily. As soon as he stopped, Jin socked him right in the eye.

"No, I'm over that," Jin replied. "The point was, when you said that, I stopped playing around… before that point, I was taking it easy on you because I really didn't want to hurt you."

Michael clutched his eye. His stomach ached and his head felt like it had been cracked in two. "I… I don't understand," he groaned.

"The only reason you had a chance is because I was being _nice._ But being nice made me weak. I'm at my best when I stop caring and just let loose. I'm going to show you and everyone else just how pointless our little struggle was, and anyone who gets in my way is going to die." His expression darkened and he made a fist. "Just like your digimon. Just like you."

Michael heard the icy certainty in his voice and knew he wasn't kidding. The friendship they'd had not more than a day ago was totally gone from his mind. It was like he was back to the way he'd been last autumn, back when he cared nothing for anyone else and nearly killed him and Willis without a second thought. The only thing that had stopped him then was…

He swallowed. It was worth a shot.

"And what about Mimi, Jin?" he asked.

Jin froze in his tracks. "M-mimi?"

"Yes, Mimi. Our friend. The girl who loves the color pink and took you in and tried to save you?"

"She's… she's got nothing to do with this!"

"Do you think she'll just stand by while you go around smashing things up for no reason? After we all lost a friend? When she tries to stop this, will you kill her too?!"

Jin suddenly gasped and stumbled forward, collapsing to his knees. He almost looked like he was going to vomit, and his glasses clattered to the ground. And when he looked up at Michael with pleading eyes, Michael saw why he was wearing them in the first place.

"Jin… your eyes!"

Jin's eyes were clouded, as if covered with a very thin, grayish film. As he blinked, it seeped from his eyes, almost like black tears that oozed down his face.

"Michael," Jin gasped. "Listen… this… it isn't me!" he cried, and his words came out so slowly it was like he was choking on them. "Delgado… h-he did something."

"I knew it! Jin, let me help you!" he stepped forward.

"No, don't! Keep back!" Jin shouted. And he reached into his coat for something and Michael gasped when he saw what it was.

It was a gun. The finish was chrome and the handle was black. It looked like an automatic pistol, the kind he imagined a secret agent or soldier might carry. At first, Michael thought Jin intended to shoot him, but instead he tossed it over to him. It clattered on the ground before skidding to a halt just in front of him.

"Take it," he gasped. "You have to stop this… b-before it's… too late!"

"What? I don't—"

"Shoot me," he hissed. The words hung in the air, their terrible meaning too much for his mind to take in at first.

"Jin? I… what are you saying?!"

"Do it!" He began to tremble. "I… can't… I can't hold this off much longer!" He stared up at him, his eyes desperate, the black serum now flowing more freely from them. "Kill me. Or… or the others will… I will…"

Michael numbly looked down at the gun. He felt himself reach down and pick it up. It was an action so foreign, so alien to him, it was as if he was watching the action in a movie, and not performing it himself. He became vaguely aware of the deafening chaos nearby as two digimon fought, and there was a terrible horror that seized his heart as he raised the gun, aiming it at Jin.

"Please… Michael, as… as a f-friend… do it. Do it!"

Michael closed his eyes and, with his blood pounding in his ears, the whole world roared about him as he pulled the trigger.

But the trigger didn't move. There was no sound, no bullet was fired. He stared down at it when Jin suddenly sprang forward and snatched the gun from his hand. The desperate look was gone, and the former cruelty was back. Jin moved a small lever on the gun slightly and grinned at him. "You had the safety on, idiot." And then he pressed it into Michael's forehead.

"Jin… no…" And now the horror was back, but this time it came with a cold, clammy fear.

"Whew, I really lost myself for a minute there. Nearly gave away the big surprise, in fact, but now that I'm feeling better… Hmm…"

Jin looked like he wasn't sure what to do, but finally he shrugged his shoulders. "You know, it'd be a shame for you to not see where this party's going, Mike." He clicked the safety back on and moved the gun from Michael's head. Michael let out a sigh of relief, but a moment later Jin pistol whipped him across the forehead, laying him out on the concrete, barely conscious. There was an explosion nearby and Seadramon's howl of pain diminished as Betamon landed nearby.

"Beta…mon…" Michael called feebly.

"Oh relax, he's still breathing too," Jin said, and he walked over and dragged Betamon over to him. "But just remember this: next time, I really won't hold anything back." And with that, he walked off to follow SkullVenomon as he marched down the street, wrecking building after building as he went.

* * *

Later that night in a nondescript van, Jin, Scarmon and several members of the Inugami clan, new and old, rode back to Ikebukuro. In a big pile before them, some of it carried in their hands, were massive stacks of cash and goods.

"Worked like a charm," Ogawa said, patting Jin on the shoulder.

"The oldest tricks are usually the best," Jin said.

An old technique of quite a few criminals is the idea of having two or more people working together. At least one person creates some kind of distraction, something that gets the attention of a store owner or manager or security long enough for his partner or partners to help themselves to anything in the register or, really, anything in the store that they want. Jin had planned the same sort of scheme, but now with a giant killer digimon on the loose, buildings cleared out, cops were too busy worrying about the giant monster to care about theft, and so the members of the Inugami clan followed in the wake of the destruction and robbed the bars and nightclubs blind. They had yet to count it, but Roppongi did good business and there were a lot of expensive and unique things to be had. A few of the younger members looked at the money before them realizing it was probably more than their parents had in their life savings.

"I hope you guys left some of those markings like I told you," Jin added. Several members nodded. "Good, because after tomorrow we've got even bigger fish to fry."

"Oh yeah?" Ogawa said, sounding a bit distracted as he counted through the money.

"Yeah," Jin said, and patted Scarmon on the head. "Back in the Digital World, Scarmon and I were hunting this bandit gang. They were tough and they had a lot of soldiers. And even though we could have taken them, if we took them head on, their leader would have gotten away. So instead we disguised ourselves and snuck in, making our way until we got to their leader's sleeping chamber—"

"—and then I shredded him like confetti!" Scarmon finished.

The pair shared a harsh laugh. "Well, after their leader was gone, they just fell apart and they were way easier to pick off. It taught us a valuable lesson."

Ogawa was listening more intently now. "What lesson?"

"Kill the head," Scarmon said, "and the body will die."

**To be continued…**


	23. Guillotine, Part II

**Chapter 21:**

**Guillotine, Part 2**

* * *

Carrying Betamon under one arm, staggering back home with his head pounding and his legs turning to jelly, Michael Washington finally made it back to the apartment. Punching in the key code to the door, he walked into the dark living room and, as his eyes became accustomed to the darkness, he saw Mimi and Palmon snuggled up on the couch. They were fast asleep, and at first he wondered why they hadn't just gone to bed.

_Oh. They waited up for me,_ he realized. _Oh no, the groceries! I just left them… oh never mind, I'll get them tomorrow._

He stared at her, this beautiful girl and her digimon, breathing softly as they slept. He wondered, should he tell her what happened? Should he tell her that Jin was under Delgado's control and that he and Scarmon had smashed up Roppongi?

Her eyes fluttered and she unconsciously pulled Palmon in closer. He smiled.

_No… I won't wake her up just to tell her more bad news. There's nothing we can do about it now, so I'll let her sleep._

Betamon was still passed out, so he took him to his own bedroom and deposited him at the foot of the bed. Then he went to the bathroom, closed the door, and flicked on the light to get a look at himself.

Considering what had happened, he didn't look too bad. A small cut on his temple and a bruise, as well as another bruise forming under his eye, meaning he'd likely develop a real shiner by tomorrow morning. He wondered if it was too late to put some ice on it, but then realized there was no ice in the freezer anyway. _I wonder if it would make me look tougher,_ he thought wearily. _Maybe Mimi's into that._

And then an image came to mind. That of him holding the gun.

_Selfish idiot!_ He chastised himself, grimacing at the image of his own reflection. _Thinking about that sort of thing when you nearly killed someone tonight!_

"No," he whispered aloud.

_You almost shot him. Your __**friend**__. You were about to __**murder**__ him._

"He asked me to do it."

_And that would have been enough to tell Mimi? Or anyone else? It would haunt you for the rest of your life and they would hate you for what you did. Imagine if the safety hadn't been on! Imagine the sound, the bullet going out of the gun, and if had hit its target, what would have happened—_

He felt his stomach tighten, the grisly image suddenly coming to mind and he tasted bile. "Oh… oh god…"

After he was sick, he splashed some water on his face, cleaned the blood from his wounds and made his way to bed. A million torturous thoughts made their way through his mind, and it was only sheer exhaustion that allowed him to finally fall asleep.

* * *

"Okay, is everyone clear?" Tai called.

"Yeah!" they all cheered.

Tai and the other Japanese Digidestined were all gathered at the Odaiba train station that morning. The news had hit about the attack on Roppongi and now the police and been mobilized, the Japan Self Defense Forces had been put on alert, and together they decided to canvas the entire city to look for Jin.

"Okay, we each have our areas, right?"

"Let's see," Izzy was saying, going over the list. "We've got myself, then Sora, then TK and Cody in one group. Yolei and Kari in another. Joe and Matt are staying here to guard Odaiba, and that leaves you and Davis working together."

"Were you able to contact Mimi?" Yolei asked.

"No, unfortunately. I don't know where they went, but I sent an email to her, Michael, and Amanda explaining our idea. Maybe they can join us later if one of them checks their inbox."

"In the meantime, let's all make sure we keep checking our phones," TK added.

Tai nodded. "Right. It looks like this guy has a digimon that can go beyond the Champion level. Maybe even up to the Mega level. So everyone needs to stay in touch." He subconsciously glanced over at his sister and Yolei. "Don't try to take him on yourself if you detect him. Ask for help."

Everyone agreed and they all boarded the train. They'd head in different directions and spread out to different parts of the city looking for Jin. He'd attacked three random places in the city, so it was hard to say exactly where he might be. They just hoped that someone would spot him before another attack was launched.

But as they boarded the train, a few nondescript strangers eyed them and casually idled nearby, catching snippets of their conversation. They got together and placed a call.

_"Yes?"_ Ogawa's voice said over the phone.

"We got a look at their maps and schedules. We know where they're going."

_"Good. And none of them noticed you were following them?"_

"No, sir. We kept our distance."

_"Very good. I'll tell Takamura. Keep following your targets and don't let them out of your sight. We'll call back soon."_

* * *

Michael woke up to a rather unfriendly smack in the head with a newspaper.

"Ow, what— Mimi?" he asked, seeing the furious girl standing over him.

"How could you!" she demanded. "How could you… oh my gosh, Michael, what happened?!" stopping herself once she saw his injuries.

He put his hand to his head and winced as it was still quite tender to the touch.

"Did… did Jin do that to you?" she asked.

"I… wait, how…?"

"Oh, that's right, I'm still mad at you," she said, almost to herself. "How could you not tell me about this!"

She showed him a newspaper, that morning's, and he saw a bold image of SkullVenomon locked in combat with Seadramon. The headline read, "Digimon Attack Rocks Roppongi!"

"Look, I… I just suddenly detected Jin's signal on my digivice and tried to follow him," he explained. "I just wanted to talk to him."

"I know that!" she yelled. "That's not why I'm angry! I'm angry that you two nearly got yourselves killed and then didn't bother to tell me! I had to read it in the newspaper!" He looked at the end of the bed. Betamon looked tired and sore, but otherwise okay, which was a relief. He turned back to Mimi, trying to sort his thoughts.

"I was going to tell you!" he shot back. "I just didn't…"

She waited patiently for his explanation, crossing her arms and looking at him expectantly. "Well?!" she said at last.

"I… didn't want to give you the bad news."

And then they heard a new voice. "What bad news?"

They both turned and saw Amanda standing in the door, looking not very rested at all, her hair wild and unkempt.

"Why are Mommy and Daddy fighting?" Penguinmon asked jokingly.

"Not now, Penguinmon!" Palmon hissed.

"Okay, I… can I please get out of bed first?" Michael asked. "Meet me at the breakfast table and I'll explain what happened."

A short time later, they gathered at the breakfast table and Michael went over the events of the previous evening. He managed to leave out the part where he nearly shot Jin, deciding that perhaps that was a detail they weren't quite ready to face (which was good, because he wasn't quite ready to face it himself). When he was done, the two girls and their partners sat in stunned silence.

"So… Delgado's controlling Jin?" Mimi asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry, Mimi, but—"

"That's great!" she exclaimed.

Now everyone else stared at her.

"I'm sorry," Amanda said, "but a ticking time-bomb of rage and violence being controlled by a demonic Elder God cowboy is great… _how,_ exactly?"

"Well, um… not 'great,' of course, it's certainly not good, but, well," she paused, choosing her next words more carefully, "it means that Jin didn't do all those things on his own! They aren't his fault!"

Michael nodded, slowly understanding. "Hey, you're right, Mimi!" he said, brightening a bit. "So he didn't attack us because he went crazy or something. He's only acting this way because he's being controlled!"

"I hate to rain on this little parade," Amanda said, rolling her eyes as she did so, "but that doesn't actually solve anything. In fact, it's worse: instead of being able to calm him down or waiting for him to just get over whatever's bothering him, we've got to figure out how to free him from Delgado's control AND in the meantime, we can't count on him showing mercy because he's not really in control anymore."

"Wellll," Mimi said, trying to think of a rebuttal.

Amanda made a face "Wellll," she said, mimicking Mimi's voice, "that's what I thought."

"Amanda, don't be rude," Penguinmon admonished.

"I'm just being realistic," she grumbled. "Michael, does this place have internet?"

"Huh? Oh, uh… yeah, I think you can plug in your laptop in the living room. There's a port near the TV."

"Great, finally some _actual_ good news," she sighed and got up from the breakfast table.

"She's really not herself lately," Mimi whispered to Michael.

"No, but… I can't blame her."

"Neither can I, but she could at least try to be more sensitive!"

Michael shrugged. He genuinely wasn't sure what to say and was torn between defending Amanda's right to be surly and Mimi's right to not be made fun of.

"Looks like… huh, mail," Amanda said without much interest. "Gee, what did I miss…. No email from friends, big surprise there… encouraging letter from parents that I'll read when I won't cry… African Prince spam… I don't even have one of those so I don't need a bigger one… oh." She turned to the others. "We got a letter from Izzy."

"We did?" Mimi and Michael asked.

"Yeah, we're all on this address list. Something about going on a search for Jin with the other Digidestined. List of locations, asking if we can help."

"Wait, they don't know that Jin's being controlled either!" Michael exclaimed. "And Jin doesn't know any of them, so even if he's still fighting Delgado's control, he might not hold back!"

"We have to call them!" Mimi said.

"Do you have their cell numbers?" Michael asked.

"Oh… um… no, I guess I don't. I know some of their home numbers."

"Well, then we better call up some families and get in touch fast," Amanda sighed. "I'll leave you all to it since you can actually speak the language."

"What are you going to do, Amanda?" Michael asked.

"I'm going to not worry about wasting time on useless gestures," she replied.

"Wasting time?" Palmon asked.

"Useless?" Mimi added.

"After what happened with Delgado, I don't even see the point," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Ángel said we had one shot. And we blew it. It's all a moot point now."

"Amanda!" Penguinmon gasped.

"Amanda, you can't really mean that!" Mimi cried.

Amanda walked back to her bedroom. "Either way there's nothing _I _can do personally. I'm going back to bed. Wake me when the apocalypse arrives," she said, twirling her finger in the air in a mock "hurray" motion. "Yes sir, I wouldn't want to miss that."

* * *

"See anything yet, Kari?" Gatomon asked.

"No, nothing yet," she replied.

"I really wish Ken was here," Yolei remarked.

"You think he'd want to be here for this?"

"I do," she answered. "He still occasionally feels guilty for what happened, even now. I think finding and helping another Digidestined who lost his way would make him feel a little bit absolved."

"Yes," Hawkmon agreed, "though it's too bad that you weren't able to talk to him directly. At least you sent him that email."

The two girls and their digimon were walking in the Shibuya area. They drew some occasional stares from onlookers with their digimon out in the open, but no major reactions thus far. Still, wherever they went, there seemed to be a tenseness in the air, and they supposed it was because the public was on edge after the attack on Roppongi last night.

"Did you try to call Ken's parents and ask for the number directly?" Kari asked.

"Well, yes," Hawkmon said reluctantly, "but…"

"But Ken's mother wouldn't tell us," Yolei finished, making a face. "She's so overprotective I think she's deliberately keeping him in the dark."

"Well, I'm sure he'll find out eventually. At least we can say we tried—hey!"

Kari was interrupted as, seemingly out of nowhere, a man in the crowd suddenly grabbed her purse and took off running.

"Hey, come back here!" Gatomon shouted and immediately gave chase. But the man suddenly jumped in a waiting car which sped off. They all noted that the plates had been removed, so there was no way to identify the driver to the police.

"I don't believe it… we've just been mugged!" Yolei gasped.

"Well, not so much _we_," Hawkmon noted.

"Oh, you're right… Kari, are you okay?"

Kari looked a little shaken, but presently calmed down and then nodded, looking more annoyed than anything else. "Yeah… well, at least my digivice wasn't in there. Not a lot of money either. Just a few small things, my cell phone, and some makeup."

"At least we've still got my phone," Yolei said. "So we can still call if we find Takamura."

"You're right. Maybe we'll report that theft later, but we should focus on finding him."

* * *

In the speeding car, the man who took Kari's purse handed it over to his partner.

"Nice work," he said. "Okay, better call Mr. Ogawa." He placed a call and spoke with Ogawa briefly. "Yes, sir… Yes. Let me check." He rummaged through the purse and pulled out Kari's maroon-colored cell phone. "It's here… I think 20 minutes or less if traffic is good… Yes, sir, we'll be there."

"All right, we need to get moving. We'll bring it to Mr. Takamura at Ueno Park." He examined the cell phone curiously. "I wonder what he wants it for."

The driver glanced over his shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure he's got a plan. He might be just a kid, but I bet he's already three steps ahead of everyone else."

* * *

Tai and Davis, meanwhile, were wandering around Tokyo Station. They weren't sure where to go first, but a quick walk around the station seemed like a good idea, since people were passing through it all the time. In truth, Tokyo was so gigantic that canvassing the entire city wasn't realistic… but still, it was a start, and it seemed better than just sitting by and waiting for another attack.

If a Digidestined was committing these crimes, then it was their responsibility as Digidestined to stop him.

"We haven't even gone far from the station, Tai," Davis was saying. "Where should we go next?"

"Well, maybe—" he stopped as his cell phone rang suddenly. He looked and saw it was his sister calling. He answered it immediately. "Kari? What's going on?" he asked.

_"Hey, sorry to tell you, Kamiya-san, but Kari can't come to the phone right now,"_ a harsh voice said. _"Would you like me to give her a message?"_

Tai's blood ran cold. "Who is this?!" he demanded.

_"I think you know who it is," _the voice said.

Tai gritted his teeth. "Jin Takamura," he growled.

"Tai?" Davis asked. "What's going on?"

Tai put his hand up as Jin laughed on the other end. _"That's right. You know, I have always heard about you. Even back in the Digital World, you and your friends got mentioned a lot. And since you were the leader, the Big Boss, your name got mentioned the most. Mimi spoke pretty highly of you too."_

"Where is my sister?" Tai demanded.

_"With me. She's fine, though. I'm not really interested in her. My friends, however, well… I told them to behave."_

"You—"

_"Relax, you can have her back. But you need to come meet me at Ueno Park. Do not call the others. Just bring yourself and your digimon. Leave the other gogglehead at the station."_

"How did you know… I mean, where—"

_"You're being watched. So are your friends. I'm not really out to hurt you, at least not until we've had a chance to talk, but if you don't do as I say, then your sister and the others will pay for it."_

Tai swallowed and looked around nervously. Agumon was looking up at him with intensity in his eyes. Tai nodded. "Okay. Where?"

_"I'll be by Shinobazu Pond, across from Gojoten Shrine. I'll give you half an hour. And __**don't**__ be late."_

The line went dead as Jin hung up. Tai was so angry he was practically shaking. Davis looked on with concern.

"Tai… what's going on?" Davis asked. "Did something happen with Kari?"

"Is it serious?" Veemon asked.

"I'll tell you on the way!" Tai growled, turning and speeding towards the station. "We have to get to Ueno Park now!"

* * *

Jin smiled as he pocketed Kari's phone. He looked out at the pond. It was a busy day in Ueno Park, which wasn't surprising for how nice the weather was. Half an hour would be more than enough time for Tai to get there, but it would make him rush, would make him come before he thought about a backup plan, or calling Jin's bluff.

"Is this going to work?" Scarmon asked. The pair was sitting on a park bench, admiring the blue water, both practically electric with anticipation.

"Oh yeah. He'll do anything to protect his sister. I've heard all about it."

"But we don't actually have her."

"He won't risk calling anyone else to find out. He'll come here and then we can have a meeting like we always talked about back in the day." He turned to his partner, flashing a wicked grin. "Feeling frisky?"

Scarmon barred his teeth in a similarly wicked grin. "You bet! Yesterday was a good warm up for this."

About two dozen minutes later, Jin heard the footsteps of a runner approaching and turned his gaze from the pond to see who was coming. As soon as he saw the boy with the wild brown hair, he knew who it was.

"Taichi Kamiya," he said, smiling almost warmly. "Glad I can finally meet you."

"So," Tai said, needing to catch his breath only slightly, "you're Takamura."

"That's me. And this is Scarmon." Scarmon only growled.

Agumon stepped forward. "Tai, be careful!" he said. This display was starting to attract attention. Some slowed their pace or even stopped to watch. Others hurried on quickly. They weren't sure what this confrontation between two Digidestined meant, but after yesterday's news, they weren't taking any chances.

"It's all right, Agumon," Tai said, trying to stay calm. "Takamura… where is my sister?"

"With her friend. The purple-haired girl."

Tai blinked, not understanding. "Wait, with Yolei? Where are they? Are they all right?!"

"Yeah, they're fine. I never laid a finger on her."

Tai looked visibly relieved, letting out a huge sigh. But then confusion took hold. "Wait… then how—"

Jin held up Kari's phone. "One of my guys got it for me. I knew you'd be too chicken to call my bluff. Though, it's not really a bluff." He tossed the phone to Tai. "They are still being watched, so you better cooperate."

"What do you want?" Tai demanded, narrowing his eyes.

"Right now, I just want you to come with me. I want to talk to you." He turned and motioned for Tai to follow. He and Agumon exchanged looks, but reluctantly walked alongside Jin and Scarmon.

"Mimi told me about you," Tai said casually. "She said you were brave and strong and that deep down you really care about your friends." He gave him a sideways glance. "So why are you attacking the city?"

"There was this digimon we fought a few days ago," Jin said, not directly answering the question. "His name was AeroVeedramon. A real psychopath. He believed that there was no progress in the world unless someone else suffers or gets hurt."

Tai made a face. "He sounds like a really bad guy."

"He was. We defeated him. We saved a village from him."

"Good for you."

"He was right, though," Jin said, and Tai felt a sudden chill when he realized that Jin was absolutely serious. "Whoa, wait just a minute! You don't really believe that!"

"I didn't say it was a good thing, just that it was true. To win a game, someone else has to lose. And if you don't believe me, take a good look around you."

Tai stopped and realized that they were at the edge of the woods nearby the pond. Ueno Park was actually quite large, and the far side of the pond was bordered by trees. And set nearby and among the trees were ramshackle settlements covered with plastic blue tarps. Sitting among them were a large group of shabbily-clad homeless people.

"Who are they?" Tai asked.

"They're homeless."

"I know that," Tai said through his teeth, whispering to not be overheard. "But why are we stopping here?"

"I want you to know," Jin said, raising his voice suddenly, loud enough now to be heard by the homeless onlookers, "that this is the price of having a successful city. People talk about homelessness like it's inevitable. They've given up on solving the problem, so they just allow them to squat here. Our country loves people who work their lives away and tries to bury the people who don't fit in anywhere."

Tai noticed a lot of the homeless people starting to gather. "That's… that's terrible," he said. "I never said it wasn't terrible. It isn't fair that other people just ignore them!"

"Yeah… but it's true anyway. Life just chews them up and spits them out. You work your butt off and sacrifice everything and don't complain about what they give you. Like my mom did." Jin's smile grew tight and artificial. "She worked long hours for next to nothing to try and keep the two of us going. But I still got treated like crap by the schools and the other kids for not having a dad and for being poor. The other parents told their kids to stay away from me because I was bad news. So I figured, if they wanted to treat me like I was rotten, then I might as well _be_ rotten."

Tai grimaced. "Well, you're all grown up now. What's your excuse?"

"Heh, cute." Jin raised his shirt suddenly and Tai winced when he saw the massive scar at his side. "I got this fighting one of Machinedramon's minions. I've got a lot of others all over the place. You know, I followed you and the other original Digidestined around trying to join you. But the Digital World treated me like a mistake. A lowlife. A parasite. An accident. And the Digital World is like this world… it doesn't like accidents.

"So, while you were all here taking care of Myotismon, Scarmon and I were busy taking out the Dark Masters' minions. You don't know how easy you had it… you could have had it much worse if I hadn't punched holes in their defenses for you. You never knew that, did you?"

"No," Tai said. "Takamura, I… I'm sorry. We had no idea you were there. We never would have left you behind if we did know."

Jin smiled, and this time the emotion seemed genuine. "I know that. The point is that you benefited from my sacrifice. I gathered the rice, but you got to eat it."

Tai searched for the right words. "Takamura-san, I know we can't make up for what happened to you. It's terrible what happened to you. Nobody should have to go through that."

"Well, I'm not mad at you."

Tai blinked. "You're not?"

"No. You're right… nobody should have to go through what happened to me. But people go through worse. Like a good friend of mine who believed it was a good thing to give up everything to help the people around him and then got murdered for the trouble."

"Takamura-san…"

"The _point_, Kamiya, is that we live in world that runs on pain and suffering and sacrifice." He gestured towards the homeless people who were now listening as if entranced. "That's the kind of world that you and I were trying to save. But now I understand that this world isn't _worth_ saving."

"Tai," Agumon whispered. "He's crazy."

"I'm starting to agree, buddy."

"Well, it doesn't matter really," Jin said. "People of Ueno Park, I have good news!" he bellowed suddenly. "I am a Digidestined and I was trying to save this world from being destroyed. But we couldn't save it, so instead of crying about how the world is coming to an end," here he raised his digivice, "I say we **celebrate** its destruction! Do what you want, whenever you want, and crush anyone who gets in your way!"

A rousing cheer went up from the crowd. Tai watched in horror as Scarmon began to glow.

_"Scarmon warp-digivolve to…"_

What stood before them silenced the crowd. The new being was tall, a head taller than any living human. His flesh was dark, as if forged from shadow, and the sound he made as he formed was grating and harsh. His yellow eyes burned and glowed in his otherwise featureless face. His hair was a tangled mass of waving, glistening red strands. Gaps in his flesh revealed metallic fibers, like steel cables spun into muscle tissue. From his cybernetic hands and long slender fingers, razor-sharp claws slid into place.

_"…Carnagemon!"_

"It's been too long, partner," Jin said. "Well, better get to work."

Carnagemon stepped forward, clearly menacing Tai and Agumon.

"Takamura-san, what are you doing?" Tai demanded. "You said you weren't angry with us!"

"I'm not." He sneered, holding up his glowing crest deliberately. "I'm not mad at any one person. I'm just plain _mad_."

"Don't do this!" Agumon said to Carnagemon. "We're both Digidestined! We shouldn't be fighting each other!"

_"I heard you were one of the toughest digimon,"_ Carnagemon said, his unearthly voice sending shivers down Agumon's spine. _"And here you are chickening out. Well, I bet I know how to get you to fight!"_ He turned to Tai and raised his claws. The boy gasped and stepped back.

"Tai!" Agumon shouted, jumping in front of his partner. As he did so, he too began to glow.

_"Agumon warp-digivolve to… WarGraymon!"_

As Carnagemon's claws came down, they were parried by an armored hand. WarGraymon wasn't as tall as Carnagemon, but he was far more muscular. Despite now facing a formidable opponent, he chuckled. Had he had a visible mouth, he would have been grinning.

"You think you're tough? Attacking a defenseless human?!" WarGraymon shouted.

_"It got the job done," _Carnagemon said. _"But he's not the only target in this park…"_

Without warning, Carnagemon leaped into the air, propelling himself several hundred meters into the air. They followed his trajectory and saw he was landing nearby one of the many buildings in the park.

"No! Get back here!" WarGraymon shouted, and gave pursuit, flying after him.

"Well, there they go," Jin said, watching the two digimon head for another part of the park. "Crest of Rage versus Crest of Courage. Who's going to win? Any bets?"

Tai raised his fists and glared at Jin hatefully. "Not you."

Jin sniffed at the gesture. "We'll see." Then he suddenly broke into a run.

"H-hey, get back here!" Tai shouted as he also ran to follow him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Are you kidding?" Jin called back. "I'm not going to miss a show like this!"

* * *

Davis stood in the busy terminal of Ueno station, tapping his foot impatiently with Veemon at his side.

"We shouldn't have let Tai go on his own," Davis grumbled.

"But he said that he had to go alone," Veemon reminded him.

"Right. Or else Kari might be hurt." He took a deep breath. "That lousy Takamura. Kari never did anything to hurt anyone! Who does he—"

Davis's phone rang suddenly. He looked at the screen and didn't recognize the number. He hesitated to answer, considering what Tai had said. He looked around, wondering if he really was being watched, but there were too many people to tell. Anyone could be watching and he might never see them.

_Come on, Davis, think!_ he phone stopped ringing and he saw that it went to voice mail. Whoever was calling had left him a voice mail.

"Veemon, I'm going to the bathroom," he said. "Listen carefully… I'm going to go in and check my phone."

"But—"

"I know, but this is the only way I can do it without being seen," he said. "Just try to keep an eye on things and make sure nobody else comes in."

"What? But how can I do that?"

"Just think of something!"

"All right, all right, fine," Veemon said.

The pair went off to the restroom, Davis going inside while Veemon kept watch outside. They were right to be paranoid, as one of the Inugami members watched from a distance. He watched Veemon keep watch outside with interest, but decided not to risk blowing his cover and wait a few minutes.

Inside the restroom, Davis checked to see if anyone was inside. By a stroke of extreme luck, nobody was. He went to the last stall and checked his voicemail.

_"Davis, this is Michael,"_ the message began. He listened intently. _"I found out last night that Jin is being controlled by that guy Mimi was talking about. You need to understand that he's not in control of himself, so don't try to reason with him, but don't blame him for what he does. Try to stop him, but – yes, I'm telling him, Mimi – try to do it without hurting him."_

When the message was over, Davis checked the number and called it back.

_"Hello?"_ It was Michael.

"Michael, this is Davis," he said. "I got your message."

_"Oh good, we've been trying to get in touch with people,"_ he said. Davis's heart skipped a beat. If they'd been calling people and the others really were being watched, then they might be in danger. He put that out of mind for the moment, since it was already too late to do anything about it. _"Why didn't you pick up earlier?"_

"I… okay, listen, here's what's going on," he said, and proceeded to explain the situation.

_"Wait, what?! You think Jin kidnapped Kari?"_

"Yeah, he said—"

_"Davis, listen: we called Yolei earlier. We weren't able to get in touch with Tai or Kari's parents to get their cell numbers, but Yolei told us that someone snatched Kari's purse, taking her phone with it. The point is that Kari was __**there**__."_

"What?!" Davis exclaimed.

_"Kari was there! Jin's lying, he didn't take her, he just stole her phone! But why would he do that?"_

Davis froze. "Tai…" he breathed. "It's a trap!"

_"Tai? Oh my god, Davis, you need to go help him!"_

"I'm already on it!" he said, and hung up. He dashed out of the restroom, urging a confused Veemon to follow him. It was then that a panicked onrush of people came pouring into the station and he heard the distant rumble of something. His heart sank as he realized it was the sound of an explosion.

As he ran, the Inugami member watching him placed a call to Ogawa.

"Boss! The kid with Kamiya just left! I think he's on his way!"

_"All right,"_ Ogawa said calmly. _"Good work checking in. Takamura-san wants the others left alone anyway. Just return to headquarters. I'm watching Takamura-san work,"_ he paused to laugh, _"and I don't think that kid is going to be much help anyway."_

* * *

_"You've got to be kidding!"_ Carnagemon laughed as WarGraymon missed him again. He was far more nimble, and so he easily dodged blow after blow. _"What makes you think you've got a chance against me?"_

WarGraymon grunted, but then said, "Well, I have taken down two Dark Masters. How many did you beat again?"

Carnagemon narrowed his eyes. _"Very funny."_

The two of them were fighting their way through the park. Ueno Park was spacious, but lined with several museums and almost always crowded with people. The sight of these two Mega level digimon fighting each other sent the crowd into a panic as they smashed through trees and tore up pavement in their attempts to attack one another.

"Just give up!" WarGraymon shouted. "We don't have any reason to fight each other!"

_"Reasons are overrated,"_ Carnagemon replied. _"I'm fighting to destroy, and you're fighting to protect. And that's why I'm going to win."_ He laughed as he put his hands together and red energy began to form in them. _"You might want to stand in front of this attack."_

WarGraymon stared at him. "What? Why?"

_"Because I'm about to blow up that building over there."_

WarGraymon turned and saw that Carnagemon was aiming his attack at a large nearby building. The sign in front of it read "National Museum of Western Art." And there were still people pouring out of it.

"No!" he shouted.

_**"Havoc Beam!"**_Carnagemon bellowed, and the red beam of energy shot forth. WarGraymon managed to block much of the attack, which burned and tore at his armor and exposed flesh, but the sheer force of the beam propelled him back, and the remainder of the energy that got through blasted into the museum. Though the building still stood, a large chunk of the roof had been blown off. He could see people staggering through the cloud of dust and felt his rage grow.

"You monster!" he roared.

_"I told you to get in front of it,"_ Carnagemon laughed, leaping away from his foe. _"So, really, it's your fault, isn't it?"_

* * *

Only a few hundred meters away, Jin watched the two digimon battling it out with the look of someone watching an intense sporting competition. He cheered and winced and laughed as the two combatants struck at each other again and again.

"Takamura!"

He turned to see Tai coming up on him. He looked at him expectantly. "Oh, there you are. I was wondering if you would follow me or not."

"Takamura-san, stop him!" he shouted. "If it's me and Agumon you want, that's fine! We'll give you a fight, but don't risk hurting these other people! They don't have anything to do with this!"

Jin shrugged. "Nobody's _totally_ innocent. Besides, again, the world is ending, so what does it really matter?"

"Takamura, I'm warning you," Tai said, holding up his fists.

"I heard you," Jin said, and now he held up his own fists, still wearing black gloves. "Is talking all you can do? Or can you back it up?"

Tai gave up trying to reason with this maniac and gave a shout as he dashed forward, intending to tackle him. Jin was ready and ducked low, grabbing him and using Tai's momentum against him. He simply tossed Tai over his shoulder, sending him to the ground. But Tai, to Jin's surprise, managed to roll as he hit, shrugging off most of the damage he would have received from the fall. He was back on his feet a second later.

"Not bad," Jin said.

"I play a lot of soccer," Tai said. "I can handle myself."

"Good. I was hoping this wouldn't be too easy." He shot forward and tried to hit Tai with a left hook. Tai leaned back to avoid it, but now he was off balance, which made it easy for Jin to immediately bring his arm back around to backhand Tai across the face. "But just so you know, you don't stand a chance. You don't know it yet, but you've already lost."

* * *

_"Terra Force!"_

The attack wasn't hard to avoid, but the blast from it was something Carnagemon wasn't expecting. The shockwave actually knocked him back a good distance, so he sprinted between some trees to recover. To his surprise, he saw a group of four park-goers cowering, hiding in the bushes.

"Get away!" one of them screamed.

_"You didn't say 'Please,'" _Carnagemon said. _**"Head Tendrils!"**_

The red, snake-like tendrils on his head shot out and seized them holding them up over his head.

"All right, Carnagemon!" WarGraymon said as he arrived. "Come out and…" he trailed off as he saw Carnagemon holding the four screaming humans. "Let them go!"

_"Sure," _he said, reeling back. _"Here, catch!"_

He threw the four of them into the air, forcing WarGraymon to fly up and catch each one of them in rapid succession. Once he had them gathered up, he put them down safely.

"Are you all ri—"

_**"Visceral Slash!"**_

He howled and the four humans fled in terror as Carnagemon's claws raked across his back.

_"That's some armor you have,"_ Carnagemon said, examining his claws. _"I barely scratched through it. I guess I'll need a little more firepower."_ He jumped high into the air and aimed his outstretched arms at WarGraymon. _"This is it! __**Havoc Beam**__!"_

WarGraymon looked up and saw the red beam coming for him and his eyes went wide.

There was an explosion and the whole area was blanketed in a massive cloud of dirt, dust, and debris.

* * *

Tai turned at the sound of the explosion. "WarGraymon!" he cried.

A second later, Jin's fist caught him on the jaw. A few quick jabs more sent him sprawling backwards.

"Your partner might win, or he might not. But you're the one who's outmatched, so pay better attention." Jin advanced on the boy, not a scratch on him. "Come on, Kamiya, I really expected better."

Tai stumbled forward and fell to his hands and knees. But then he suddenly shot his foot out, sweeping Jin off his feet, causing the older boy to fall back. Tai was up and ready to follow the attack, and would have been successful if Jin hadn't grabbed a clod of dirt from the ground. He threw it into Tai's face, momentarily blinding him. When he cleared it from his face, he had barely a nanosecond to see Jin's fist coming, which wasn't nearly enough time to react.

He soared back when the punch made contact, and he was vaguely aware of a warm gush of blood oozing from his nose. The world was bright and momentarily far away. He thought he heard Jin saying something, but the ringing in his ears made it impossible for him to hear it.

"That's the game, Kamiya," Jin was saying. "Feel free to stay down. I'm getting bored and it'll be more fun to watch our digimon fight anyway."

* * *

Carnagemon landed in the crater where his Havoc Beam had struck, but WarGraymon was nowhere to be seen. At first he thought perhaps he'd been deleted, but as a Digidestined digimon, he should have reverted back to his Rookie form as a protective mechanism. He must have escaped under the cover of the dust and debris.

_"WarGraymon… where are you…"_ he wondered aloud.

Then he felt a strong hand grasp his foot and saw WarGraymon begin to emerge from ground. _He went underground!_ he realized, though now it was too late.

"You're mine now!" WarGraymon shouted, and thrashed Carnagemon on the ground only to pick him up and hit him with a series of fierce strikes with his claws. Carnagemon was nowhere near as armored as he, and he groaned and sputtered in pain as his more powerful opponent finally had him where he wanted. When it was finally over, he realized that the two boys were nearby. Jin was just watching now, so WarGraymon wanted to make sure he saw this.

He picked up Carnagemon, who was barely holding on to his Mega form now, by the throat and held up aloft. "Well, Carnagemon? Who's stronger?"

Carnagemon groaned and stared down at WarGraymon with one eye, the other one now too swollen to open more than a crack. "You are," he sighed. "But…"

And then there was a searing, white hot pain in WarGraymon's shoulder. He looked and saw that Carnagemon had extended one of his metallic claws, piercing his shoulder right through.

"Heh… but my arms are longer," Carnagemon laughed. WarGraymon lost his grip in the midst of the intense pain, dropping Carnagemon to the ground. Even though Carnagemon was unable to get to his feet, he still had enough power to spring forward and stab his blades into WarGraymon's legs.

With a roar of pain and rage, WarGraymon punched him one last time, and then both digimon collapsed to the ground, totally spent, and de-digivolved back to their Rookie forms.

"Well, how about that," Jin said. "I guess it's a draw. For them, anyway." He was aware of Tai slowly getting to his feet. "But not for you, Kamiya. You can barely stand, and I'm not even breathing hard. You know, I actually feel kinda bad," he said. Then he paused as if considering a new idea. "Okay, I'll be a sport." He stuck out his head, turning his cheek to Tai. "Go ahead, I'll give you a free shot. One good punch." He tapped his cheek, drawing an invisible bull's eye. "Better make it count."

Tai knew he couldn't beat Jin in a fair fight. But if this was his last opportunity, he would make it count. He pulled back, almost as if ready to pitch a baseball, and struck forward. His bare fist landed square and true, hitting Jin right where he'd drawn the bull's eye. Jin actually staggered back, falling off his feet. But to his surprise, he was actually laughing as he sat on the ground.

"What? What are you laughing about?" Then he winced. He looked down at his hand, at the fist he'd just used, and felt a strange, cold, tingling sensation. It ran up his arm spread through his shoulder, and then up his neck and over his face.

"I told you that you'd already lost," Jin said. And then Tai started laughing as well. And then, the two exhausted digimon also struggled to their feet, joining in the increasingly maniacal laughter.

* * *

**Two nights earlier:**

"Good evening, gentlemen!" Delgado said. "I've got a present for you, and I just know you're gonna love it!"

Jin tried to move, but Delgado landed on him and pressed him to the ground. Scarmon leaped at their foe, but Delgado backhanded him with such force that he flew fifty feet and into a tree, knocking him unconscious.

"Scarmon!" Jin cried. "You heartless bastard, what do you want?! Are you going to kill me now too?!"

"Nah, not before I've had some fun with you," Delgado said. And from his pocket, he pulled out a syringe. With his mighty strength, it was easy to hold the struggling boy still enough to jam the needle into his neck and inject him with the inky black substance inside.

"What is—" Jin tried to speak, but something took hold and a rush of images came to mind. Violent, cruel images of the things he'd done, of the insults he'd received, of every fight he'd been in, of his mother berating him, of Ángel's death… the most horrible things he could imagine. And suddenly he was filled not with sorrow, regret, or concern, but rage. Pure, unadulterated, endless rage.

"Jin Takamura," Delgado said, stepping back and watching him convulse, "you are the first official carrier of a little something I had my lab boys whip up. You've been pretending to be the good guy for too long, so this will help you remember your roots, Child of Rage. That agent coursing through your blood and lighting up your neurons will help you see things my way. Oh, and two more important facts: One, it only affects Digidestined." He smiled, his red eyes glowing ever brighter. "And two, it's contagious. Vademon gave me some spiel about electrically charged transmission or something, but the point is that it's skin-to-skin contact. A single touch is all it takes to infect _both _partners. Now, with that in mind, I've set up a special digiport that'll take you right to the heart of Tokyo. And we both know you've got an old score to settle there, so listen carefully and I'll tell you where to go next…"

* * *

"I feel… different…" Tai said. It was difficult to breathe after the fight he'd just had. "But… all those things you were saying? They make a lot more sense now."

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Jin rubbed his cheek where Tai had struck him. "Letting it all loose without worrying about what will happen next? And hitting someone with your best shot even if you know it's all pointless?"

"I'd feel better if I didn't just lose," Tai remarked. And then they all shared a short laugh which was interrupted by the sound of hollers and a familiar voice calling Tai's name.

"Who is that?" Jin asked. "And… is that a digimon with him?"

Tai turned to see Davis and ExVeemon approaching rapidly.

"Tai!" Davis shouted as he arrived on the scene. "Are you okay? Whoa, it looks like Agumon and the other one really had a huge fight." He looked over and saw Jin standing there, his hands placed casually in his pockets like he didn't have a care in the world. And then he saw Tai more closely and realized how battered he looked, with bruises and scrapes and a bloody nose. "Oh man, Tai, did… did he do this?!"

Davis raised his fists as he stared down Jin while ExVeemon kept an eye on the two downed digimon, but Tai stepped between them all and said, "Hey, relax Davis, it's okay."

"What do you mean it's okay?! This guy pretended like he had Kari, he caused all this damage, and he tried to trap you!"

"I mean it's okay because Takamura-san here is going to surrender." He looked over his shoulder knowingly at Jin. "Isn't that right?"

"Hm? Oh… uh, yeah, that's right. I'm so sorry about stuff etcetera." He raised his hands, as if giving up, but his tone and the hint of a smirk on his face wasn't very convincing.

"Wh… what?" Davis cocked his head, not sure what to make of this strange scene or the building unease in his gut. Something was very wrong, and ExVeemon sensed it too. He was ready to attack if need be, but seeing both Jin and Scarmon looking so smug made him feel that there was some terrible danger here.

"Davis, I really appreciate you coming to help me," Tai said, giving him a warm smile. "I can always count on you." He put out his hand.

Davis momentarily forgot the uneasiness he felt and returned the smile. "No problem, Tai," he said, and shook Tai's hand.

His eyes went wide as the same dark, tingling feeling that had just previously engulfed Tai now spread to him. ExVeemon staggered, feeling the same horrible sensation invade him as well. As the two reeled, Jin, Tai, Scarmon, and Agumon all stood by laughing.

Davis released Tai's hand, panting momentarily before he straightened out and then joined in the laughter with the others. "So," he asked. "What's next?"

Jin walked forward and put his arms over their shoulders. "Now," he said, "we start the party." He raised his head as he heard the sound of approaching police sirens. They'd never make it in time, though. By the time they arrived, the Inugami clan and his new comrades would be gone.

* * *

"Yes?" Mimi said into the phone. "I understand… No, not since we heard from him earlier… I'm sorry, I'll call when we hear from him, okay?"

She hung up the phone and went over to the living room. Michael looked at her expectantly. She shook her head. "Still no word. Jin is still missing, and now Tai and Davis are too."

Michael frowned. "What could have happened to them? We know they were all in the park earlier today. What went wrong?" Since their call to Davis, several hours had passed. It was the early evening and not only had Jin not been found, but Tai and Davis had vanished as well. Knowing they had both been on their way to confront Jin, and knowing what he did about Jin's state of mind, Michael had a feeling of dread about what might have happened to them.

There were footsteps in the hall and they looked up to see Amanda entering the room. She didn't look any better than she did earlier.

"Amanda?" Mimi asked carefully. "Do you feel any better?"

She barely responded, only muttering something as she went over to one of the chairs and sat down. "I can't sleep," she said.

"Maybe, uh," Michael said, "maybe some TV would be good." He found the remote and they all sat down in front of the television. When it came on, it was a news program.

"Maybe something lighter," Michael said.

"Wait!" Penguinmon cried. "Did you hear what that newscaster just said?"

Michael turned it up and they all listened to the newscaster continue his explanation.

_"(Ladies and gentlemen, I repeat: while normally we would not cooperate with criminals, I and several members of our news team were ambushed today by those responsible for the destruction in Roppongi and Ueno Park. They threatened to destroy this building with everyone inside it if we did not play this tape in its entirety. We ask your forgiveness as we play this videotaped message.)"_

The screen shifted and the grainy image suddenly came into focus. They all gasped when they saw who it was: Jin.

_"(Hello, Tokyo!)" _Jin said, waving to the camera. _"(You're probably wondering what's going on in your city. What was that digimon and why is it attacking the city? Is there really a Digidestined responsible? Will the other Digidestined be able to stop them? Let me answer those questions first.)"_

"What's he doing?" Mimi asked.

"I don't know, Mimi," Palmon replied. "But maybe we'll finally figure out what Delgado did to him."

_"(The digimon you saw was mine. And as for me…)"_

"Don't tell them your name, Jin," Michael said aloud. To himself, he thought, _If he says his name, it might get back to the people in New York. And if that happens, there won't be any turning back._

_"(Well, for a long time, I was trapped in the Digital World. My partner and I were busy cleaning up the scum of the Digital World. And for the way we swept through, wiping out everything in our path, we had a nickname: they called us The Plague.")_

Penguinmon was translating for Amanda and Michael let out a sigh of relief.

_"(But before that, I was just a poor kid from Ikebukuro. No father, just an overbearing, overworked mother, and the two of us got swept under the rug and left behind by the system. I want you to know that I haven't forgotten what was taken from me. My name is Jin Takamura, and I may be a Digidestined, but I'm not here to save you.)"_

"Oh no…" Mimi gasped.

Michael lowered his head. "Jin, you idiot… now they'll never stop looking for you. And if they catch you, who knows when they'll ever let you out."

_"(And as for the other Digidestined, you're probably thinking that I can't beat them. And you'd probably be right. That is, until…)"_ and then two new figures stepped into view. Everyone went silent when they saw who it was: Tai and Davis, and all their digimon stood right beside them. _"(…Until I convinced these two to join me.")_

The phone started to ring, but Michael motioned for them to let it ring while they watched this.

_"(We want you to know that there's something evil out there that we couldn't beat. Something that's going to destroy this world, and there's nothing we can do about it. But we want you to know that it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Let's party like there's no tomorrow because, in a way, there isn't one!)"_ He grinned broadly. _"(So, if you're poor, overworked, or just fed up with society and where __**they've**__ decided that __**you**__ fit in, then you should be happy. Sooner or later, we'll be bringing the party to your part of town, and when that happens, you should drop what you're doing and join in. Smash a few things, bust your boss's head wide open, and take whatever you like from whomever you like! Celebrate the destruction of the city! Celebrate the world's destruction and try to enjoy what time you have left! Ladies and gentlemen, today we begin…),"_ and here he held up a symbol, a round, black emblem with a white skull on it. The Japanese katakana written on it said "MoKu MaTsu." _"…Mokushiroku Matsuri!"_

Penguinmon had been translating for Amanda as best he could, but he stopped at that last phrase.

"The… what?" Amanda demanded. "'Today we begin the,' what?"

Penguinmon searched for the best translation. "Today we begin the _Doomsday Festival_."

* * *

**Somewhere else…**

"How could this have happened?" a voice asked.

"It is horrible that this occurred, but now that he is here… what does this mean?" another voice asked.

He was dimly aware of his surroundings. Swirling light, a pervasive warm feeling. And yet he couldn't quite place where he was. Even the sound of the voices was less a sound and more of a feeling. It was as if he was underwater, or as if he had his eyes closed and ears plugged. And yet there was a sense of disorientation for he felt somehow without eyes or ears. As if he was not a person, as if there was no body to be aware of. There was only an awareness, and it wasn't much of one at that.

"This has never happened before. One like him has never passed before. Not since the being called Oikawa and this… is this something similar?"

And then there was a new voice. It cut through the others and silenced them. Even more than the others, he _felt_ this voice more than he heard it. _"He Is Here For Reasons Not Even You Can Say,"_ the voice said, _"But The Why Is Less Important Than The Fact That He Is Here. And Now That He Is, He Must Come With Me."_

There was a short chorus of protests, but the voice had only say, _"Be Quiet,"_ and they all fell away. He had a sensation not quite of falling, but the light faded to darkness and he presently began to feel like himself again. But the problem with that was that he had no idea _who_ he was. He had no idea where he was, what his name was, where he'd come from or how he'd arrived at this strange place.

_"I Am Going To Take You Into My Care, As I Do With All The Lost."_

He felt himself sinking into a soft bed of grass and earth. When he opened his eyes, he was staring up at dim light shining through black silhouettes of trees. There was no color. Even when he looked at his hand, it was a pale shade of gray. He examined it closely. Five fingers… no feathers, no fur, just bare skin. What was he? Who was he?

_"We Have A Lot To Do Together,"_ the voice said, and though he didn't see the speaker, he felt his presence. _"Let Us See Where This Road Takes Us… Ángel."_

* * *

**To be continued…**


	24. Gathering

**Chapter 22:**

**Gathering**

* * *

He stared out, peering into the woods. Their colorless trunks and branches were nonetheless dappled by a hazy light that peeked through the leaves overhead. He had no idea what he was doing in this forest, where he was, how he got there, or even who he was. The voice that had spoken had called him that name. He said it aloud, trying it for himself:

"Ángel…"

It felt familiar. No doubt about it, that was his name. He stared again at his five-fingered hand as he began walking. He didn't know where he was going, but there seemed nothing better to do. He felt a bit as if he had just awoken from sleep, but only in the sense that his thoughts were muddled and confused. He didn't feel tired or groggy, but nothing seemed to make sense. He felt numb inside, like his body was no more than a shell, without weight or substance. He couldn't even tell what emotion he should be feeling. If he was lost in the woods, he should be frightened, shouldn't he? But these woods were not normal, he knew that much. Back when he'd seen forests, especially the thick jungles—

There was a sudden flash before his eyes and the image of thick foliage and the heavy humidity of the jungle told him that he'd been in a place similar to this only recently.

"I was in a place with trees. Forests and jungles… I was on a journey." The light from above seemed to grow slightly brighter and the black and white forest was further illuminated. A soft wind began to blow and the rustling of leaves overhead stirred a strange feeling of tranquility within him.

_"Good." _It was that voice from before. _"You Have Begun To Remember."_

Ángel looked all around for the speaker, but there was no one in sight. "Who are you?" he asked.

_"Someone Who Can Guide You,"_ the voice replied. _"But You Must Take The Steps If You Are To Be Whole Again. Before You Ask Me Who I Am, Try To Focus On Who _You_ Are."_

The odd quality of the voice was such that it didn't even really sound like someone speaking. It was as though a thought merely occurred to him, and yet he knew that it was another, and not himself. Even though he couldn't remember anything, he was sure he'd never heard a voice quite like it. The best way he could describe the voice was that he didn't so much _hear_ it as he _felt_ it.

"Ángel… that is who I am," he said. "And… I remember I was going somewhere. I had a journey. No, not just a journey: a mission."

_"Yes, That's Correct. And Do You Recall How That Mission Went? Were You Successful?"_

He continued on his way and the ground below him seemed to suddenly turn slippery and he found himself on the edge of a large hill. As he walked, he slipped and began sliding down the slope, tumbling and plunging into shadow. He tried to gain a foothold or grab the grass on the hillside to slow his descent, but everything he grabbed gave way as soon as he put his weight on it. Finally, the hillside came to an end and he splashed into shallow pool, only a few inches deep, and the sudden shock of the cool water brought him further out of his sense of numbness. But now a new emotion began to rise up: dread.

"I was… the mission was…" he struggled to remember, but nothing came to mind. Still, that feeling of dread told him something had gone wrong. As he pulled himself out of the water, he felt the wetness of the water suddenly leave him. He trudged onward and the feeling of dread persisted, but several other emotions flared up as well.

_"You Can Feel The Emotions Rising Up, Can't You?"_ the voice asked. _"Part Of You Already Knows The Answers To The Questions You Seek. But You May Not Be Prepared To Deal With Those Answers."_

"That's enough!" Ángel shouted, his anger fueled by his confusion and fear. "I want to leave this forest! I want out of here!"

_"The Only One Who Holds You Here Is Yourself, Ángel. If You Want To Leave, Then Simply Walk Forward And Leave."_

He didn't know exactly what this voice meant. It was cryptic, but he believed that what it told him was the truth. He walked forward and saw a brighter light shining from between the trees. He started to run, but came to a full stop as soon as he exited the forest.

Out before him was… nothing. The ground stopped as though he was at the edge of a cliff, but out beyond the edge was a vast, seemingly endless expanse of nothingness. It was though he was in the sky, for it was vast and went on for what looked like forever. There were occasional clouds and it had a brightness, even though it was all still gray and there was no sign of a sun to give off such light. He looked to his left and right and was astonished to see several islands, each covered with forest, merely floating in the wide expanse. He supposed the landmass he was standing on was such an "island," but beyond that revelation, he couldn't explain anything else about what this place really was.

_"This Expanse Is What Separates You From What You Seek. To Bridge The Gaps, You Must Reassemble Yourself."_

Ángel sucked in a deep breath. "This place… it is so strange. Is this even real?" he asked.

The voice gave a soft, but not unkindly chuckle. _"This Place Is Not A Normal Place Like You Are Used To. This Is A Realm Not Of Body, But Of Mind."_ And then there was an edge of cold seriousness to the voice as it continued: _"However, That Does Not Mean It Is Imaginary. Far From It, This Place Is, In A Sense, More _Real_ Than Any Place Else. It Is A Place That Many Of Us Call 'The Gathering Ground.'"_

* * *

In Full Metal City, Vademon was enjoying a rare moment of confidence. Lately, it seemed that he was treading along the edge of a knife. His new master made so many demands and made so many threats. Amid all the savagery and the clear feeling that his life was always at risk, he wondered if he would ever finish his work or if he was doomed from the start. But after buying some time with his plan to turn the biological agent against the Digidestined, he was riding high on confidence and the knowledge that he had finally contributed toward his own revenge.

_Turning the Digidestined on each other, driving them nearly mad,_ he thought to himself with a chuckle, _it must be tearing them apart. I only wish I could see it for myself!_

That extra time he'd gained allowed him to finally see the completion of his other projects. And so it was that he'd called his master from the Control Tower. As soon as he'd told him the good news, he rode the elevator down to meet him at the entrance. Delgado had only said one thing: "I'll be right there."

Vademon smiled as Delgado arrived on the scene. The soldiers standing on guard nearby saluted their master as he walked up. This creature, the Ancient Enemy, normally inspired an awesome kind of fear (once you saw what he was capable of, how could it be otherwise?), but now he was smiling that horribly cruel grin and Vademon was much happier knowing that his master was pleased.

"So, Vademon… the Transdimensional Portal is ready?" Delgado asked. The two were outside the Control Tower. The structure was a cylindrical column with a massive sphere at the top. It was one of the tallest buildings in Full Metal City, and it was from there that Vademon managed all his main duties, from monitoring the different sections of the city and reprogramming the security to his main tasks of perfecting his master's secret weapons. One of those weapons, the D-Chamber, had been completed the day before. Now the portal was done and, as soon as Andromon was recaptured, Vademon could finally relax.

"Yes, Master," Vademon said. "It took some work, but I was happy to do it! The portal sequence has been established and the central portal gate was completed earlier today. Our tests show conclusively that we can use it to safely travel to Earth and back again."

"What about the other gates?" Delgado asked.

"They will be finished by nightfall, Master."

"Well, well, well," Delgado said, crossing his arms and nodding approvingly. "Looks like you've finally proven yourself, Vademon."

Vademon bowed. "Yes, thank you, Master!"

"Of course, that's assuming it all works."

Vademon's pulse sped up slightly, but he took a deep breath and flashed what he thought would be a convincing smile. "Not to worry, Master. The portal gates will function exactly as you instructed."

"But that still leaves the D-Chamber." Delgado eyed Vademon carefully. "You said it was ready. But we haven't tried it out yet, now have we?"

"We… w-we only await your word, sir," Vademon said. "You mentioned Crocmon, correct? Perhaps we should prep him—"

"Let's make sure the damn thing works first," Delgado said. "I have someone else in mind."

Vademon cocked his head to one side. "Who?"

Delgado grinned and stepped to one side. Behind him there was a sudden cloud of black, swirling energy, and out from it stepped a new creature. Vademon gasped as it shambled toward him.

"W-what is that?!" he asked. The creature had ashen gray skin, blank white eyes, yellow teeth, and torn and ragged clothing. It had a humanoid appearance, but its black, oozing sores told him it was no human. He reached for his ray gun in its holster, but Delgado held up his hand, so he kept it holstered for the time being.

"One of my little tricks," Delgado explained, "is my Seeds of Despair technique. If the digimon in question happens to have just that right sort of darkness in their heart, I can transform them into one of these." Delgado gestured at the monster. "Zombiemon. Intimidating and, in large numbers, effective at wreaking a little havoc. They feed on the energy of living digimon, draining their vital energy away until they are no more."

The Zombiemon's gaze turned to Vademon and it lunged at him suddenly. Vademon gasped and was about to fire his ray gun at the monster when Delgado stepped in front of the Zombiemon, causing it to stop instantly. "Ah ah ah," he said, wagging his finger at the Zombiemon as if it were a naughty child. "You behave yourself. There will be plenty of time to feed later."

_"Greaaauhh," _the Zombiemon groaned. Vademon noticed that even the guards were disturbed by this strange creature. It was horrible and the stench it gave off filled them all with disgust. Even more than that, the knowledge that this had once been another digimon and reduced to this undead minion was the most disturbing thing of all.

"You… _made_ this creature, Master?" Vademon asked.

"I did," Delgado replied. "I was just going to leave him in Partition to snack on the survivors like the rest, but I sense an inner strength in him. Besides, he's special. He's a VIP." He grinned that same horrible rictus again as he gestured to the Zombiemon. "Meet Tapirmon, the former mayor of Partition."

Vademon gulped. "Th-this was a Tapirmon?"

The Zombiemon's head rose at the sound of its former name and it let out a sudden, bone-chilling howl. _What is it doing?!_ Vademon thought to himself. _Does it still remember what it used to be?_

"Easy there, 'Your Honor,'" Delgado chuckled. "Anyway, Vademon, here's the thing: Zombiemon are Champion-level digimon, but they aren't that strong. They're better in hoards, and even then they mostly serve as cannon fodder. It doesn't matter what their level was before I turned them; in this form they are always Champions. I'd like to see if we can take this sack of dead meat and turn him into something _really _terrifying."

Vademon looked at the creature once more. The thing was horrible enough as it is, but now…

"Master, the D-Chamber can indeed force a digimon to digivolve, but… this creature…"

"Not sure you want to see what it'll turn into?" Delgado asked.

Vademon hesitated, then gave a nod.

"Well, too bad, because I'm calling the shots and I want to see my little slave grow into a big, strong henchman." Delgado stepped closer to Vademon, staring down at him with that dark face and burning red eyes. "Go prep the D-Chamber. _Now."_

* * *

"The Gathering Ground?" Ángel asked. There had to be a reason for that name. But who was gathering here? As near as he could tell, he was the only one there…

He clutched his chest. Not out of physical pain, but rather that he felt a sudden pang of loneliness. He had the distinct feeling that he was not normally alone, that there was usually someone _else_ by his side. Even though he didn't know who that person was, he still felt an absence, a void that had to be filled.

"There… was someone else," he said.

_"Yes?"_

He had another flash. Brief images: a flash of red there, someone in black, another in pink, one with blonde hair, and one with brown eyes behind lenses. They were fuzzy, unfocused images and he couldn't see any faces. The flash was gone before he'd scarcely had time to see anything.

"No, not just someone else," he said. "There were several others. My… my friends."

The voice rumbled approvingly. _"Yes. You Were In The Company Of Good Friends. Do You Recall How You Felt With Them?"_

He closed his eyes, trying to bring up the memory, hoping he'd see that flash of imagery again. Instead, there were split-second flashes that came individually. Each brought a different feeling.

_Steely gray eyes and a warm handshake. _"I felt needed."

_Light brown hair and a kind smile. _"I felt accepted."

_A green shirt and blonde hair. _"I felt appreciated."

_Warm lips, pale skin, and dark hair. _"I felt desired."

_Red feathers, a light voice, and green eyes._ "I felt… happy."

He opened his eyes, but now this strange world was unfocused and shimmering. And it was then that he realized that it was because his eyes were filled with tears.

"What… why am I crying?" he asked. There was a gnawing pain behind those memories, and he wasn't sure why. "Those things I saw, they made me happy. But now, I… what am I crying for?"

_"The Part Of You Already Understands. But Look Around And See That You Are Already Making Progress."_

Ángel wiped the tears from his eyes and looked around, seeing that the distant islands of land were now much, much closer. Though the emptiness all around him was still there, those other islands now looked reachable.

_"These Individual Pieces Of Land Have Been Split Apart. As Your Mind Becomes Whole, As You Discover Yourself, You Can Bring Them Together. But To Truly Mend Your World, You Must First Confront That Which Keeps You Enshrouded In Darkness."_

Ángel walked along the edge of the area, looking for a gap that he could perhaps jump across. If this place was in fact a mental realm, then he wasn't sure that there was any consequence to falling. Just the same, he didn't want to find out the hard way that there was. As he rounded the corner, however, he saw something even better than a narrow gap.

It was a bridge. Not a rope bridge, but an honest-to-goodness arching bridge with solid wood planks and sturdy handrails. Not that he needed them, for the bridge was wide enough for a car to drive over it. He stepped onto the bridge, but immediately stepped back off as he heard a cold, but somehow familiar chuckle emanate from the woods on the other side of the bridge. Then a figure, a shadow as black as night, emerged from the woods. It had a vaguely human shape and it looked like it was wearing some kind of wide-brimmed hat. His face could not be seen, but his red eyes and shark-like smile stood out against the darkness of his visage.

He felt his heart thunder in his chest and he staggered back as the figure began to cross the bridge, stopping at the top of the arch of it and holding out his arms at once blocking his path and daring him to cross.

"No…" Another flash of memory came. Those awful, red eyes. Mad, heartless laughter. An oppressive sense of doom and, worst of all, a deeper sadness mixed with a burning anger. This creature had wounded him deeply. It had utterly destroyed something he held precious. And now it was here to finish him completely. He turned and screamed again in terror, _"No!"_

"Ángel!"

He froze. That voice was familiar, unlike the unearthly disembodied voice that had been speaking. It was a voice that rang in his ears as naturally as the sound of the wind or his own breathing. It filled him with comfort and, he found, a little courage. His heartbeat began to slow as he turned around. The voice was coming from the other side. This shadowy monster was blocking him from reaching it.

_"Confront That Which Keeps You Enshrouded In Darkness,"_ the otherworldly voice repeated. _"You Must Face Your Darkest Fears If You Wish To Remember. It Will Not Be Easy, But If You Cannot Face Your Fear, Then There Is Nothing But The Wilderness Of Your Own Mind To Wander Through. What Will You Choose?"_

Ángel clenched his fists and stepped onto the bridge. "I will not run away," he said. "I don't know what memories you are keeping me from, monster, but I won't give up."

The shadow laughed again and beckoned him forward. With a shout of fury, he rushed at the shadow. But though he intended to tackle it and force it out of his way, the shadow only grew as he leaped at it, enlarging itself to fill his view. And soon, to his horror, the darkness overcame his entire body and the entirety of the fractured world.

* * *

The main room of the D-Chamber was a huge, round room with machinery and consoles lining the walls. It doubled as the main control point of the city, connecting all the security systems and the controls for nearly every device and machine in Full Metal City to each other. Vademon's staff worked busily at the various consoles attending to the maintenance and monitoring of the iron metropolis. Now, however, most of that work was being suspended as they prepared to fire up the D-Chamber and test it for the first time. At the center of the room was a metallic, round dais that took up most of the floor. Above it, embedded in the ceiling, were various machines that hummed ominously and projected jet-like funnels downwards.

The Zombiemon in the room made everyone nervous. It listened to Delgado, but it still eyed the rest of them hungrily and snapped at anyone who got even close to it. Vademon tried to ignore the sense of dread that it inspired and worked to prepare the D-Chamber for activation.

"Energy converter status?" he called to a Gazimon.

"Converter is ready!" the Gazimon replied.

"Cooling systems?" he asked a Haguramon.

"Readings are normal, coolant levels are at maximum."

"Circuit check?"

"Functioning at 100%."

"Containment wall?"

"Operational."

"Analyzing sensors?"

"Functioning normally."

"Dark energy streaming pathways?"

"Cleared and ready for use."

"Dark energy levels?"

"98% after initial tests."

Vademon took a deep breath. "Well, Master, it seems that everything is ready."

Delgado nodded. "Good. Then let's see what this baby can do." He elbowed the Zombiemon. "Go on. Stand in the center."

The Zombiemon gave a grunt and it stepped into the dais at the center of the room.

"All right, everyone, let's begin," Vademon said, trying to hide his own nervousness. "Lower the containment wall."

A button was pressed and with a low rumble, a thick, cylindrical wall of protective glass descended around the dais, leaving the Zombiemon trapped inside.

"Heh, he looks like a bug in a jar like that," Delgado chuckled. He looked at the others expectantly. After a few moments, they also laughed nervously. "All right, enough comedy. Get on with it, Vademon."

"Ah, right," he said. "You heard the Master everyone. Begin first tier charging!"

"Beginning first tier!" a Veggiemon said, pulling a lever. The machines above the Zombiemon came to life, casting a dull purple glow downward as they charged the surrounding air with tiny subatomic particles. This was to prep the area before the main burst of energy that came in the second tier. Still, minor sparks and tiny electrical discharges already began to appear on the Zombiemon's skin, irritating him as he growled reflexively. "First tier charging is complete!" Veggiemon called.

"Begin the second tier!" Vademon ordered.

A Clockmon pushed a few buttons and the machines now began to heat up and a high-pitched whirring sound could be heard. Steam began to pour off of them. "Systems are go. Firing second tier energy in 3… 2… 1!" Clockmon pulled a lever and the machines roared to life as they fired a massive cloud of dark, swirling energy down onto the Zombiemon. The dull creature immediately began to roar in anger and pain.

"Master?" Vademon asked. "The Zombiemon appears to be in pain—"

"Digivolution ain't easy, Vademon, and you can't bake a cake without breaking some eggs," Delgado said calmly. "And I want my cake. Don't you dare stop this test."

"O-of course, sir." Vademon himself was in charge of this last part. "Now preparing third tier charging. Energy direction systems are ready to fire." He reached for a large lever and grasped it with his slimy hand. He took a deep breath and pulled it down. "Firing energy direction!"

Inside the cloud of dark energy, three bright beams of light shot into the Zombiemon like lasers, causing him to glow. Then the cloud of energy began to swirl, charging the Zombiemon with incredible power. The form of him, barely visible in the center of the swirling maelstrom, began to grow and change shape. His howls became deeper, more guttural, and more terrifying. A few of the workers flinched and some covered their ears as the monster inside grew larger and larger.

"Maintain your positions!" Vademon yelled. "Monitoring station, what is your reading?"

"Digivolution is occurring. Form is reaching energy thresholds. It's at 95%... now 96… 98… 100! Subject has achieved stable digivolution!"

In spite of his misgivings about granting more power to this monster, Vademon was relieved. Apparently they were successful.

"Power down the systems and purge the chamber!" he shouted.

The workers did as they were told. The machines fell silent and the energy slowly dissipated, the vapor that had accumulated on the glass wall clearing as fans above and below the central chamber purified the air. That just left the creature inside…

"Well, Master, let's take a look at… your…" Vademon gawked at the creature in the chamber and froze where he stood.

"Now _that's_ a monster!" Delgado laughed.

The creature was now much larger than before, now well over 20 feet tall. It resembled a human in shape, but one of its arms was now much longer and sharp, pointed claws protruded from its fingers. It had a lot more muscle mass that bulged out oddly from its legs and arms. The gray skin now had a thick, leathery look to it, but it looked ill-fitting for the creature's massive frame and the sores that it had previously had only grown larger. The flesh on its face seemed to have decayed further, exposing its teeth, giving the creature a grotesque grimace.

"Sensors have finished analyzing the subject," Vademon said, checking a monitor. "It has evolved from Zombiemon to Necromon."

"Necromon, eh?" Delgado said, trying out the creature's new moniker. "All right then. Let him out."

"Master?" Vademon looked at the creature. It remained still for the moment. It was only hunched over, panting loudly but making no move. Still, he had a bad feeling about it. "Master, I don't think—"

"Let. Him. Out." Delgado looked over at Vademon expectantly. Vademon nodded and reached for the containment wall control. No matter how afraid he was of this creature, he was even more afraid of Delgado. "Removing containment wall," he said. The thick glass slowly slid upwards, leaving nothing between the creature and the workers in the room.

"What's it doing?" one asked as Necromon made no move.

"Ugh, that _smell…_" said another.

Delgado walked forward, snapping his fingers to get Necromon's attention. "Hey, Big Guy, down here. Remember me?" Necromon finally raised his head, looking around blankly before he finally peered down at Delgado. "That's right, it's me, your master. Well, you certainly look more powerful. I should find some hapless victims to test your abilities so—"

Necromon suddenly turned away from Delgado and took a few steps out of the Dais. Delgado, for the first time that Vademon had ever seen, looked genuinely surprised. "Hey, Undead Fred, I'm talking to you!"

Necromon either didn't hear that or he didn't care. He looked down at the workers, his eyes finally settling on Veggiemon. The green digimon shifted nervously and his fear grew as the other workers moved away from him. "M-master? Mr. Vademon? Wh-what's it doing? Why is it staring at—"

Necromon roared, its deep, monstrous voice reverberating and echoing in the large high-tech chamber. Veggiemon froze in terror as the undead creature opened his mouth and shouted, _"Feast of the Damned!"_

A beam of black energy shot from Necromon's mouth. Veggiemon screamed only a moment as the beam immediately funneled and drew all his vital energy back through it to be consumed by Necromon. Veggiemon shriveled up into little more than a green husk, his emaciated remains falling to the floor like a discarded shirt before vanishing a moment later. The others recoiled in horror. Delgado, of course, merely rolled his eyes.

"Okay, that's enough snacking," Delgado said irritably. "Now you—"

_"Unblest Claw!"_ This attack was like Zombiemon's Wither Claw, but instead of merely slashing at his opponent, Necromon actually _skewered_ a Haguramon with his claws, impaling the helpless gear right through, sucking him dry of his vital energy as well before he shattered into data.

"That's enough!" Delgado growled, putting himself in front of Necromon. "You worthless sack of carrion, I am your master! You _will_ listen to me!"

For a moment, Necromon seemed cowed by this display. But only a moment later, his eyes alighted on a Vilemon in the corner. He ran at the Vilemon, a disgusting green drool starting to drip from his salivating mouth.

_"No!"_ Vilemon screamed. He looked around frantically and, seeing no clear path to flee, he simply took to the air and crashed through one of the large windows, taking to the skies over Full Metal City.

Necromon didn't hesitate in the slightest and launched himself through the window as well, shattering it completely in an explosion of glass. He leaped into the air and grabbed the hapless Vilemon in mid-flight. The poor digimon screamed as the two plummeted several hundred feet to the steely street below. Delgado went to the window and watched with a darkening expression as Necromon fed. The two guards outside of the Control Tower were rushing over to try to contain the monstrous beast, but stopped and turned tail once it turned its attention to them.

"Vademon?" Delgado said.

"Y-yes?"

"Meet me on the ground floor. I'm going to stop that thing before it causes any more damage." With that, the Dark One levitated up and out the window, descending to the street below where Necromon was viciously tearing the two guards to shreds. He was about to knock Necromon out, when he noticed something. The undead beast was now not merely muscular, but _bulging_ and even now swelling larger as it consumed more energy from the digimon it fed from. But when it finished consuming the two guards, it groaned and stumbled. Large lumps appeared on its back and a few moments later it gave a pained groan and the lumps burst, shooting bright streams of energy into the air where it dissipated. It let out one final gasp as it fell forward, unconscious.

"Well… that's unexpected," Delgado remarked.

A few moment later, Vademon scurried out of the Control Tower and met back up with him. He stared down at Necromon before turning back to Delgado with a questioning gaze.

"Master, what happened?"

"I didn't have to lift a finger," Delgado said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Zombiemon are naturally made of corrupted data, but pumping more of my power from the Dark Orb into him made Necromon go wild. He can absorb energy from other digimon to get stronger or heal himself, but the idiot consumed so much his body couldn't take it."

"Well… I'm sorry that this experiment was a failure, Master."

"Not so fast, Vademon," Delgado said. "Even though this sack of rotting meat is dumb as a brick and so mentally corrupted that he doesn't even obey _me_, I think there's room to work with him. Get some restraints on him, put a shock collar on him or something to make him listen next time he gets out of hand, and most importantly see if you can find a way for him to store the energy he consumes and feed off of it more slowly."

"That's… well, that will take some time, sir."

Delgado sighed. "I don't like waiting, Vademon. Take a few hours and then report to me when you're done. We've got some work to do, still, and I want my elite soldiers ready to go as soon as possible."

"Yes, Master. I'll do those things and have the others repair the Control Tower and reset the D-Chamber. You still wish to proceed with Crocmon?"

"Of course," Delgado replied. "Oh, and Vademon? He better not go crazy like Necromon did. Because if that's a side effect of that machine, I'm holding you responsible for the design flaw."

Vademon gulped. "Yes, sir."

* * *

When Ángel's vision cleared, he was no longer standing at the edge of a forest. He seemed now to be inside a cave, a tunnel which extended far off in either direction. There was a small lantern, an old oil lamp, at his feet to give off light, but it only allowed him to see a small distance ahead of him. Even now, the color in everything was missing. The grab gray walls of the cavern, the sharp, protruding stalagmites, and even his own hands were all still in black and white. The low light of the lantern cast flickering shadows that made this dank underground tunnel seem even more creepy and foreboding. Worse yet, when he called out "Hello?" he only got his own voice echoing back dissonantly from the untold depths of the cave.

_"You Have Chosen To Face Them," _the voice said suddenly, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin. _"Your Fears Remain Buried Beneath The Surface Of Your Mind. As Such, This Cavern Is Where You Must Face Them."_

Ángel shivered. "But… which way should I go?" he asked, his voice still echoing. He noticed then that while his voice echoed throughout the tunnel, the mysterious voice he heard did not. It was then that he wondered if perhaps this voice was only in his head.

_"Ah, You Worry That You're Hallucinating?"_ the voice asked, a touch of amusement in it. _"I Assure You That I Am Quite Real. But Perhaps, On This Note, You Should Confront Your First Fear…"_

"Loco!"

Ángel whirled around. There appeared to be no other person there, but that voice, the voice of a young child, suddenly pierced him and he presently heard other voices join in.

_"Loco! Loco Dominguez!"_

That name, that epithet, that one phrase came out and now there were more of them shouting over each other, laughing cruelly. Amid the flickering shadows of the rocks and stalagmites, he could swear he saw other figures like his own circling him and chanting their cruel taunts.

_"Loco Dominguez, qué dicen las voces?"_

"Stop that!" he cried, putting his hands over his ears. "I am not crazy! I'm not!"

_"Loco! Mira, mira al loco!"_

He grabbed the lantern and ran further into the cave, trying desperately to get away from those voices. But no matter how far or fast he went, the voices only continued. He didn't know where he'd heard those taunts before, but he knew with certainty that he'd heard them before. There was something hurtful, something unbearable in their taunts and he just wanted to get away from them even more than he wanted to remember who he was…

_"If You Run, You May Eventually Get Away," _the voice told him, _"But If You Wish To Vanquish These Voices, You Must Confront What They Mean To You."_

He slowed, steeling himself as the voices grew ever louder and the laughter more cruel.

"They called me that because… I heard voices." He got another flash just then: the faces of children all following him jeering at him as he walked the streets, as he stood in the hallway at school, and even along the dusty trail that led through the center of town.

_Wait,_ he thought. _I know those places! They were my school, my town, my home back in Mexico! Back there…_

* * *

_"Do you still hear the voices, Ángel?"_ _the doctor asked him_.

_"No,"_ _he lied_. _"I took my medicine. And I know they were not real."_

_"The nurses say you can't sleep very well. They say you have nightmares."_

_He swallowed_. _"I just want to go home."_

_"Of course you do. I'm sure you'll get to go home soon. You're a brave little boy."_

_"Thank you, doctor."_

* * *

The memory was clear now. And there was more. The loneliness and terror of that horrible asylum. The drugs, the other patients who wandered the halls and the nurses who talked to him with compassion, but also pity, and then finally when he returned, the children who teased him relentlessly. All of it because of his curse, that horrible ability to—

"Their minds!" he said aloud, and the voices fell silent. "I could read minds! And the others… they didn't understand, so they treated me like I was crazy. Like I was some sort of freak. They… they always treated me like that."

_"All Of Them? They All Treated You Like That?"_

The voice urged him on, and he closed his eyes, trying hard to remember. But then it was there. Those same familiar faces, still blurry, reaching out and offering him their acceptance.

"My friends… the first real friends I had," he said, a smile coming to his face for what felt like the first time in a long time. "They accepted me. My ability and my strangeness did not matter to them. I didn't feel so different with them around."

The lantern in his hands suddenly flared up and the walls of the cave became more illuminated, the shadows now seeming less dark and intimidating. He realized once again how much this realm truly responded to his own mental state.

_"Good, Ángel, Very Good," _the voice said. _"You Have Done Well To Face Your First Fear: The Fear Of Alienation."_

"Those others," he said, and now there was a slight heaviness in his chest, "those other people. They were my friends. Can I see them again?"

The voice was quiet for a few moments before it said, _"If You Wish To See Them, Then You Must Confront More Of Your Fears. Two More Fears And You Will Find The Great Treasure At The End Of This Cavern."_

"Treasure?" he asked.

_"The Treasure Of Your Memories And Of Your True Self. But I Warn You Again, This Will Not Be Easy."_

Ángel took a deep breath. "I do not care. I must keep going. I have to know who those people are."

_"And Who You Are Too?"_

He nodded. "And who I am too."

* * *

Vademon cast a sideways glance at Crocmon as they stood in the large elevator of the Control Tower. The tall creature in the ragged blue jeans and khaki vest didn't look like much to him, so he had to wonder why Delgado put so much stock in him. He was tough-looking, to be sure, and his thick, leathery green hide looked like it could take a beating, but just the same, there was no shortage of other deadly digimon in this army they'd put together here in Full Metal City.

"Something on your mind?" Crocmon asked, his voice on the edge of a snarl.

Vademon decided not to voice his private misgivings. Even though he was an Ultimate level and Crocmon only a Champion, he was too much of a coward to push a conflict. Instead, he noticed Crocmon's eye, scarred and white. "What happened to your eye?" he asked.

Crocmon growled and clenched his fists. "Scarmon... that little demon did this to me. And that's just the latest in the parade of things he's done."

Vademon didn't know who this "Scarmon" was or indeed, now that he thought about it, much about who any of Delgado's adversaries were. For him, they were Digidestined and that was enough.

"You know, I normally wouldn't concern myself with this," Vademon sighed, "but it's not like you can back out now anyway, so there's no harm in picking your brain about it. You heard about the experiment earlier today? What happened with Necromon?"

Crocmon nodded.

"So, knowing that and the possibility of either going crazy or just being deleted, you're still willing to go through with this?"

"Absolutely," he replied immediately.

Vademon was a bit surprised by the speed of his answer. "Why?" he asked.

"Heh. The Dark One seems to attract a certain kind of digimon. Mostly thugs and bullies and thieves. Most of these soldiers here in Full Metal City are just here to join what they see as a legendary gang of tough guys. But then there are others who see a chance to settle the score. Those who have been wronged or wounded by those they simply _cannot_ forgive. Scarmon and I met years ago. I helped him, but he abandoned me, left me to die, and vanished with that infernal partner of his. He's a bloodthirsty menace to be swept away by the Dark One, and I don't care what it takes to do it… but I'll risk everything to get my revenge."

Vademon smirked, and Crocmon noticed.

"You have your own grudge, I'm guessing?"

Vademon made a face. "A certain young computer geek tore my pocket dimension to shreds. I swore that I'd make him, his digimon partner, and his friends pay."

Crocmon chuckled. "The Digidestined… the heroes of the Digital World? Or maybe just a bunch of reckless humans who step on innocent digimon like us to reach their goals? I think you and I have made up our minds."

Vademon nodded. "Well… good luck, Crocmon. I suggest you brace yourself. This is not going to be pleasant."

"I've given up caring about myself," he said, rubbing the black mark on his chest where Delgado had branded him.

The elevator reached the top floor of the Control Tower. Delgado was already waiting for them as the staff nervously went from station to station to prepare the D-Chamber.

"Gentlemon," he said, turning to them both with a jovial grin, "shall we begin?"

* * *

The tunnel led further downward, and eventually the chamber began to widen. As it did so, the sound of rushing water became audible and Ángel quickened his pace. His lantern was certainly brighter than it had been before, but he also saw that the cave walls were now covered with a kind of phosphorous lichen that illuminated the tunnel almost to the point of the lantern being unnecessary. As the chamber grew ever wider, he turned a corner and found the source of the rushing water sound he heard.

The chamber he found himself in was very spacious, vaguely circular and large enough to hold a hundred people if needed. Flowing from a roaring waterfall in the ceiling, an underground river divided the chamber. On the other side was another tunnel, the way out of the cave was presumably that way. But the river was deep and the water swift. He wasn't sure how good a swimmer he was, since he couldn't remember much about who he was, but just the same it didn't look like it would be possible to swim across no matter how skilled one was. The water gurgled and bubbled at the other end of the chamber, presumably being sucked into underground pipelines that would carry it deeper under the earth.

_"Quite The Obstacle, Isn't It?"_

Ángel nodded at the voice's observation. "It's too wide. I cannot cross it."

_"Are You Certain?"_

He looked around, less certain now that the voice had made him question his assertion. _Face my fears,_ he said to himself. _If this is truly a mental realm, then I only have to imagine a way across…_

He wasn't so sure this logic held up, but he closed his eyes and concentrated. When he opened them again, miraculously a series of stepping stones were rising from the bottom of the river to create a makeshift walkway to cross the river.

"Yes!" he shouted. "I _can_ cross it!"

Carefully holding his lantern, he jumped from stone to stone. The river was quite wide, almost 40 meters from one shore to the other, and the stones were damp. Still, he was confident that he could make it and before he knew it he was halfway across.

And then there was a voice, a curious voice that seemed to echo out from the water itself. _"__If we forfeit this game, then all is lost. It will be the end of the world."_

"What?" he asked. "Who said that?" He looked around, looking into the dark, rushing water just below his feet.

_"We are on a __divine__ mission. I believe we were sent here by God," _the voice said. And then, _"We cannot run away."_

He wasn't sure why, but those words sounded familiar. "That voice… I… I know it!"

_"You Should,"_ said the other voice, the voice from before.

"It… it was _my _voice!"

And then there was another voice, and this time it was not his own: _"The others don't get it, but you do. You understand better than anyone else that we are being pulled by the strings of Fate. We are puppets, mere slaves to the whims of __Destiny__."_ The voice was cold and there was a menacing edge to it that chilled him to the bone. Even though his body still felt all sensations like they were muted and distant, that one voice brought out a horrible, sickening fear. As it continued, he watched in horror as the stepping stones on either side of the river began to sink, stranding him in the middle. _"Well, the world is doomed, you failed, but good try, kid," _the voice went on. _"This was all determined a long time ago. You are humanity's representative saviors and you __lost.__ Accept it."_

"No… no no no…" he whimpered. The other stones were gone save for the one he was standing on. Worse, it seemed to be slowly sinking, the rushing water lapping at his feet as if eager to swallow him up. "It cannot be…"

The image flashed before him again. Another form like his own, but this time he was certain it was not like him. It was that shadow from before, back on the bridge, with its burning red eyes and horrible, murderous intent. It was his nemesis, his one enemy, the target that his whole life had been building up to.

"And… I failed," he breathed.

The stone sank further, now partially submerged under the water. His lantern was swept into the water and as he reflexively reached for it, he slipped and nearly tumbled headlong into the stream. At the last moment, he grabbed onto the stone and held on. The water was ice cold and the pull of it was almost enough to make him lose his grip. And yet amid the freezing water, he felt hot tears running down his face. "I lost… I let everyone down!" he sobbed.

_"The One You Fought Sought To Extinguish You, To Utterly Destroy You," _the voice told him. _"So… You Believe Him? Your Destiny Is At An End?"_

Ángel clenched his teeth and desperately tried to pull himself onto the rock, but it to no avail. "It must be. If it was fate that I lost—"

_"Then I Suppose It Is Not Your Responsibility,"_ the voice said, almost offhandedly, _"That The World Faces Destruction. Those You Hold Dear Are Still At Risk, But You Are Merely Following The Will Of Destiny, Like A Chess Piece Moved By An Unseen Player. So You Really Have No Say In The Matter?"_

Ángel's eyes went wide. "No! That's… that is not what I meant!"

_"You So Fear Failure That You Won't Even Take Responsibility For Your Own. If That's The Case, Then How Can You Even Claim Any Victory As Yours? Is It Not All Decided Beforehand?"_

"No!" he shouted. "I… I want to help my friends! But I don't know that I can!"

_"Then What Will It Be, Ángel Dominguez? Do You Fight On? Or Do You Accept Defeat And Let Powerful Forces Sweep You Down The River, Never To Be Seen Again?"_

With a howl of anger and a new resolve, he pulled himself up onto the rock with all his might. To his amazement, the rock began to rise, taking him safely out of the water. The other stepping stones that were there before also began to rise. His heart still thundering inside his chest, he hopped quickly from one to the other until he was safely on the other side of the shore. He collapsed to the ground, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. And yet there was a thrill that he wasn't sure he'd ever felt before. A surge of emotion that made him want to cheer. "I did it," he panted. Then, more loudly, "I did it!"

_"Good Work, Young Man," _the voice said. _"So Now You Have Faced Your Second Great Fear: The Fear Of Failure."_

As he stood, he saw that his clothes were no longer wet. The feeling of coldness and hopelessness was gone, and the river behind him was quieter and the water began to diminish and slow. In less than a minute, the river that had almost consumed him had gone completely dry. With a flash and a puff of smoke, the lantern he'd lost reappeared, its sudden light now even brighter than before.

"Is this almost over?" he asked. "I want to see my comrades again. Please, tell me I am almost done!"

The voice again hesitated. _"This Journey Is Almost Over. Your Memories Are Just Ahead, Ángel. But This Fear, More Than The First Two, Is The One That Keeps Your Memories From You."_

"I said I do not care!" he shouted. "I want to remember who I am and find my friends!"

_"Then Go Forward, And Be Strong, For This Last Fear Has Stopped Even The Greatest Heroes __Dead__ In Their Tracks."_

* * *

"Lower containment wall!" Vademon shouted. Standing in the center dais was Crocmon, his arms crossed and his expression hardened. If he was frightened, he was doing a good job of hiding it. In fact, he almost looked impatient, as if the risk to his own life was completely irrelevant and he just wanted to get this over with. He maintained that expression right up until the thick glass wall that encircled him came down and sealed into place. Both Crocmon and Vademon glanced over at Delgado, but the Dark One was only smiling, anticipating the results of this experiment with nothing but eagerness.

"Crocmon, we're about to begin," Vademon said.

"Good," Crocmon grunted.

"Very well. Brace yourself, this is not going to feel good."

Delgado stepped forward then, putting his hand against the glass, his eyes flashing red momentarily. "Ah, but the power you'll gain… _that_ will definitely feel good."

Crocmon grinned. "Yes, Master."

"You heard him, everyone," Vademon said, trying his best to sound confident. "Begin first tier charging!"

"Beginning first tier!"

Again the small chamber filled with a purple light, the electricity crackling over Crocmon's hide making him only flinch slightly. The chamber hummed and everyone held their breath for the next step.

"All right, Crocmon… brace yourself!" Vademon said. "Begin second tier charging!"

"Beginning second tier!"

The chamber filled with the dark clouds of dark energy as it blasted down on Crocmon. He gave a momentary gasp of pain, but managed to stifle his reaction and took deep breaths through clenched teeth. Soon his form was a mere silhouette amid the billowing chaos of black and purple clouds.

"Second tier charging is complete!"

Vademon nodded. This next part was the hard part. He grasped the large lever that would start the lasers. "Beginning third tier charging!" He pulled the lever.

The lasers fired down and the clouds of energy swirled around him in a cyclone as he began to glow. He also finally lost whatever composure he had as he let out a loud howl of pain.

"Easy, Crocmon, the charging process will be over soon!" Vademon shouted.

"Relax, he can take it," Delgado said, watching his minion in the chamber with sadistic glee.

"O-of course, sir," Vademon said. "Monitoring station, reading?"

"95%... 96…"

Inside the chamber, Crocmon was shifting and growing, his form in constant flux. His voice was now distorted, likely as a result of his body changing shape. While Necromon had cried out in animalistic rage, Crocmon was howling in sheer pain, his torment at his form being forcibly altered evident. None of the staff was enjoying this. In fact, it was perhaps even more disturbing and horrible than when they had created Necromon. They just hoped that Crocmon would be better behaved.

"99… 100%! Subject has achieved stable digivolution!"

"Power down systems—"

"NO!" came the voice, and the suddenness of it was enough to even surprise Delgado. It came from Crocmon, or what had once been Crocmon inside the chamber. "Don't turn it off! I've only hit Ultimate level! Keep pushing it!"

"Crocmon, that's insane, we can't just force you up by two levels!"

"I have to get stronger! I have to be at my very strongest so that my nemesis can never get the best of me! I… ARRRGHH… I must—"

But then Delgado's laughter cut through this argument. He held up his hand and smiled at Vademon. "You heard him. Give him what he wants."

"Master, he might not survive—"

Delgado raised his arm swiftly and shot a small beam of dark energy into Vademon's left arm, searing his flesh and causing him to cry out in sudden pain and surprise. He saw that the wound had been cauterized, but the sudden, burning pain was enough to almost make him dizzy.

"You were saying?" Delgado asked, raising an eyebrow. The whole room was absolutely silent now, save for Crocmon's pained grunts as they echoed inside the glass chamber.

"Con… continue the operation!" Vademon gasped.

"Yes sir!" the digimon at the monitoring station said. "Um… levels are continuing to rise… he's at 160%!"

Crocmon was still shifting form, still changing and his groans became every more piteous and agonized. "ARRRGGHH! Can't this go any faster?!"

"You asked for this," Delgado laughed. "Don't give out on me now… you either finish this or you die. And I mean that… if this process doesn't kill you, I will. Now dig your heels in and suck it up, you weakling!"

"Rrrgghh… yes… yes, Master!" Crocmon managed to gasp.

"195%! 196… 197…"

"System is beginning to overheat! Coolant is unable to compensate!" another worker shouted.

"Just keep at it!" Vademon cried as he looked at Delgado fearfully. "We're almost there!"

Alarm bells began to sound. Various pipes began to steam up and some of the consoles began to blink and sparks began to fly. One of the consoles began to smoke and a second later burst into flames.

"Contain that!" Vademon shouted. If Delgado wasn't there, he would have pulled the plug on this procedure, but now he knew that failure would result in summary execution for both himself and Crocmon. _You better survive this, you overgrown reptile!_

"Energy levels are slowing, but still rising, sir!" the monitor called. "198… 199…"

Despite the chaos going on around them, the workers all seemed to hold their breath for what seemed an interminable amount of time as they desperately waited for the final number.

"200%! Stable digivolution has been achieved!" the monitor shouted. "He made it, he made it!"

"Shut it down!" Vademon screamed. "Hurry, shut it all down, purge the chamber, get it back under control!"

Everyone obeyed this order and presently control over the D-Chamber was restored. Delgado stepped forward to greet his new minion. The energy and steam and vapor in the chamber cleared as the glass wall slid upwards.

"Well well well," Delgado said. "So, this is your Mega form."

Crocmon still resembled a crocodile. But now he was slightly taller and much leaner, though still quite muscular. His form was less hunched over and now more human, even though his body was still covered with leathery scales. He stood to his full height and glanced at his clawed hand with four fingers. In place of his ragged jeans and khaki vest, he was now wearing a shining collar of jewels and gold and around his waist he wore a luxurious white silk wrapping. On his head he wore a golden headdress. His wrists were adorned with golden bracelets and he wore blue turquoise bands around his ankles. He resembled less the wild outback beast he was and now looked like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh.

No, not a pharaoh. A _god._

"Sensors have finished their analysis, Master," Vademon said. "He is now Sobekmon."

Sobekmon took a deep breath. "You were right, Master," he said to Delgado. "This power… it feels good…"

The other workers all looked to each other nervously. Half of them expected Sobekmon to suddenly snap and start murdering them as Necromon had done. They all breathed a sigh of relief as Sobekmon maintained his calm, almost dignified composure.

"Glad we could help," Delgado said. "Now I've got myself a Mega in my army!" He turned to Vademon. "Vademon, go get that little scrape I gave you some medical attention and consider it a lesson in _always_ doing what I say. Then come meet me in Hanger 11."

"Yes, Master," Vademon whimpered. "Wait… Hanger 11? Isn't that—"

"Gargantumon's quarters, yes," Delgado said. "I want to talk about him."

Delgado beckoned Sobekmon to join him and the two got back on the elevator, riding it back down the Control Tower together.

"Feeling good enough for some training?" Delgado asked.

"Yes, Master," he said. "Am I to test myself against Gargantumon?"

"No, no, just go try out your powers in the Coliseum. I want you to feel ready before our big operation."

"Yes, Master." He hesitated for a moment, but then finally decided to press the matter that most heavily weighed on his mind. "Master… now that I've attained this power, may I now find Scarmon?"

"Heh. Don't worry, I'm handling him."

"Yes, but… Master, if I could—"

"The deal was that you'd get your revenge or I'd get it for you, remember? If the opportunity comes up, I'll let you take a crack at the little punk. But for right now, _I'm _having my fun with him and his partner."

"Y-yes, Master." Inwardly, he was seething. _Scarmon… you had better survive whatever the Ancient Enemy is putting you through. I'll serve him and do whatever he asks, but you better be ready to face me! I'll use this new power to destroy you and your allies, so please, stay alive… until I get the chance to kill you __**myself**__._

* * *

Ángel ascended a stone staircase, moving upward through the narrow tunnel until he finally reached the top. He gasped when he saw what was before him.

Inside a simply massive chamber was a tiered pyramid with runes and hieroglyphics carved into the sides. The stone structure was itself gigantic, but it was dwarfed by the massiveness of the chamber. He noticed that at the very top of the pyramid was a beam of light shining upward like a searchlight through a hole in the roof of this dome-like cavern. Through the hole, he caught a glimpse of the sky, still gray, but definitely brighter than this dark cave.

"That is where I have to go," he said, feeling certain about it. "I have to get to the top of that pyramid."

As he began to walk, he heard the mysterious voice speak again: _"So Focused On Your Goal You Are! You Don't Even Notice Your Surroundings."_

Ángel stopped and realized that the protruding rocks around him were not stalagmites, as he thought, but something else. He realized with a sudden chill that the rocks were, in fact, tombstones.

"What… Is this a graveyard?" he asked.

The voice did not answer, perhaps because it obviously _was _a graveyard. He looked at a few of the tombstones, but the names were often worn or faded. But still, as he got closer to the pyramid, some of them became clearer, and more familiar. "'Carlos Puentes Cervantes,'" he said. "That was… wait, I knew him! We used to play ball in the field near… wait, what was that place?"

He was focused on the memory, trying to remember the name of it when it finally hit him: if that grave belonged to Carlos, then that meant…

"That means that Carlos is dead," he said aloud and stopped in his tracks. So he would never play ball in any field ever again. He couldn't quite remember the person, not even his face, but that distinct feeling of fun and excitement in a dusty field was strong, and now it was tempered by a feeling of sadness that the fun he'd had there with a friend was now over and not coming back.

_"Go On,"_ the voice said. _"You Must."_

Ángel swallowed, but went onward. Again, as he walked closer to the pyramid across what he now knew to be an expansive graveyard, some of the names he saw jumped out at him. A flash of a smile here, a cruel laugh there, the words to a song, the taste of food, and on it went, forming in his mind this picture of the life he'd had before.

"It was a place," he said. "A small village I called home! Rosa Blanca!"

_"Yes,"_ said the voice, only now it too carried a tone of sadness.

Ángel pondered what this meant when it dawned on him: "If all these people are here, then does that mean everyone in Rosa Blanca is—"

Another flash of memory: _"Rosa Blanca… oh, oh yeah, that's right, there __was__ a village by that name! Well, there was… about a week ago."_

There he was again. That horrible grinning face and red eyes. That ridiculous hat and jovial demeanor that hid something ancient and absolutely horrible.

"No," he said, and he broke into a run. _It can't be! That can't be true!_

He came upon one more tombstone, a large one that stood before the staircase of the pyramid, and this one had three names upon it. With a trembling hand and eyes already brimming with tears, he read the names on it carefully: "Raul… Gabriela… Miguel."

Those names were even more familiar. To his amazement, all three names began to move around and shift form, changing to a single name that was displayed in bold letters across the cold stone face of the tombstone. Another flash of memory, and this one was the strongest yet:

* * *

_"Mamá!" he cried. He was a mere boy in bed, a simple cot, waking up after a bad nightmare. "Mamá!"_

_ "Sí, sí, sí, estoy aquí," a woman said, getting up and coming from the small room next door in this tiny house. She entered the room and hugged him tightly, the warmth of her body and the soothing sound of her voice washing away the fear as she rocked him back and forth, patting him on the back until he was calm. He looked over her shoulder and saw a proud, strong man watching them both patiently. He yawned, but gave him a kind smile, and he smiled back._

_ "Lo siento," he said abashedly. And then a stirring came from the cot next to his._

_ "Hermano?" said the younger boy. "Qué? Por qué Mamá y Papá están aquí?"_

_ He smiled. "No te preocupes, Miguelito. Está bien."_

* * *

The vision ended and he felt weak in the knees. He slumped the ground and repeated that last phrase quietly. "Está bien… está bien…" He forced himself to look up at the name before him on the grave: "DOMINGUEZ."

So this was the fear that he had been running from, the one that the mysterious voice had warned him about. He still could barely remember who he was, but he knew in his heart that whatever else happened, he could not return to that place he called home. Rosa Blanca, its people, and his whole family were gone. The people he loved so dearly, the ones he loved with all his heart were taken from him. He'd never hear them laugh again, never be held by his mother, never be reassured by his father, and never get the chance to comfort his little brother. They were all gone, and he was here without them.

_"Will You Go On?"_ the voice asked.

"Why bother… what does it matter anymore?!" he shouted, collapsing to the ground. "My friends, my neighbors, my family… everyone is dead!"

_"It Is The Harshest And Most Terrible Fear, And I Wish I Could Spare You It's Pain,"_ the voice said quietly. _"But It Must Be Faced If You Are To Proceed. That Is The Nature Of This Fear: The Fear Of Loss."_

"Proceed? I don't care anymore," Ángel gasped between sobs. "There is nothing left for me! Please… just let me disappear… nobody will even care…"

_"Are You So Certain? Listen!"_

A voice cut through his sorrow, and the closeness of it made him raise his head. It called his name: _"Ángel!"_

It was that voice from before! The voice from across the bridge when he charged that shadow! He knew it for certain and he rose to his feet. There was still someone left! He charged up the steps to the entrance of the pyramid.

_"Yes, Ángel… The Fear Of Loss Is One All Beings Share. The Bonds Of Humans And Digimon With Each Other Is Such That The Loss Of Those Bonds Can Shatter Their Whole World. But There Is One Thing That Overcomes That Fear…"_

Ángel was listening, but as he walked through the long, stone hallway, the carved runes and hieroglyphs were now in plain view and he saw that they were not hieroglyphs, but pictures. He realized that they were not some ancient language, but familiar images that continued to fill in the gaps in his memory. Slowly the images took on colors and he saw as his world went from black and white to the bright tones he knew from before.

Here he saw an image of himself standing alongside a boy dressed in black, and above them was the image of a fierce warrior of burning green flames.

And here was the image of himself and the boy in black and another dressed in green, and three creatures facing a towering man with a volcano on his back.

Another image was of a girl in pink standing before him, her arms open and welcoming.

Yet another showed him sitting by a lakeside, staring into the eyes of a girl with brown hair and glasses.

The final one before he exited the hallway was of himself with all four people, their small partners by their side as they faced down a man with a shadow-like body and red eyes.

"My friends," he breathed. "The Ancient Enemy… and our partners!" He found himself in a stone room, the images he saw, among others, adorning the walls. In the middle of the room was a rectangular box with a heavy stone lid, the kind he'd seen in movies about mummies: a sarcophagus. But on either side were two open graves. On the headstones of these were two names each. Four graves total, eight names.

"Michael and Betamon, Jin and Scarmon," he read of the ones on his left. "Mimi and Palmon, Amanda and Penguinmon," he read of the ones on his right. "My friends… my friends! Does this mean—"

_"Take Heart, Ángel,"_ the voice said. _"Those Graves Are Open, And Thus, Yet To Be Filled. Will You Allow Them To Be Filled?"_

He clenched his fists. "No," he said. "No, I will not." He approached the stone sarcophagus in the center of the room. On the lid of it, a picture was painted of a bright red bird with a yellow beak. He knew it now.

"That's my partner!" he cried and seized the lid of the sarcophagus. "I have to find him!"

_"Even Though You Know He Is Gone?"_

Ángel ignored that and kept struggling to try and pry the lid off of the sarcophagus. "He might be gone… but he can come back! He is a digimon, and he is my partner!"

_"Ángel!"_ That same familiar voice, and this time it was very close, just on the other side of the stone lid. With a final groan and a strain that felt like his arms would tear from his body, he finally lifted the stone lid as he shouted the name.

_"MUCHOMON!"_

The stone lid shattered and a beam of light came down from the hole in the ceiling, illuminating the occupant of the sarcophagus as he floated into view. The little red bird flapped his wings and fluttered down into the boy's waiting arms.

"Ángel! You did it! I've been trying to break you out of here!"

"Me? I was… I was trying to find you!" he said through his sobs, only now they were sobs of joy.

The light from above shined ever brighter and before the two of them knew it, they were lifted off the ground and ascended up through the long shaft that led to the top of the pyramid and finally out of the cavern into the world outside.

* * *

Vademon rubbed his arm, tenderly examining the bandage as he entered Hanger 11. The building was a gigantic warehouse, or perhaps it really did once hold some immense machine. Whatever its original purpose was, it had now become the home of their newest recruit. Vademon really wasn't fond of this brute, but Delgado was standing before him now, beaming with pride. With the huge door of the hanger hanging open like that and the beast within slumbering soundly, he looked like a dog asleep in his dog house.

"Get a load of him, Vademon," Delgado said. "I just stumbled upon him by chance, but what a find!"

Vademon looked at the beast, realizing that he still could barely take in the whole sight of him. Gargantumon certainly lived up to his name: he was tremendous. The creature had a dull, reddish tone to his hide. He stood on two legs that were as thick around as redwood tree trunks. His arms and hands, by contrast, were tiny, useless appendages that served little purpose other than gesturing his emotions, and thus far, Vademon had seen him express no emotion at all other than hunger. The monster had two long, protruding horns like that of a bull and two beady green eyes that stared right ahead. He also had a fat, stubby tail that seemed to do little else other than balance his massive girth. That just left the parts of him that made up most of his body: his mouth and his gut.

His mouth was closed now, but he could open it wide enough to swallow a jet plane if he wished. It was lined with sharp, teeth, each one almost two meters in length. As he slept, his bottom canines protruded outward, like tusks. When the creature opened his mouth, his foul, sour breath wafted out, sickening the unfortunate workers who had been charged with keeping him fed. Within that mouth was his tongue, and that made up for his lack of arms. Like a frog or lizard's tongue, it was deceptively long and he could stretch it out at long distances and use it like an appendage to grab objects or attack, though mostly he seemed to use it to snatch food (and occasionally unlucky digimon) and pull it into his maw. That just left his gigantic gut, a bottomless round pit that made up nearly half of his entire bulk. When he walked, his belly shook and wobbled with him. The effect would have been comical except for the fact that Gargantumon was just so huge. When he stood to his full height, he was tall enough to peer over a five-story building. His steps were so heavy that the ground shook for up to a kilometer in either direction.

"Gargantumon!" Delgado called. "Wake up!"

Gargantumon popped open one green eye and then the other, blinking as he stared down at his tiny master. He made no move to stand, however, and only grunted tiredly, shifting his weight as he slowly came awake.

Vademon sighed, getting impatient with this dumb, plodding brute and his lackadaisical reaction to the Master's command.

"Get up, you fat slug!" Vademon shouted. "The Master gave you an order!"

Gargantumon grunted, turning his gaze over to the small, large-brained creature. "Hmm," he said, his deep voice rumbling and causing the walls of the hanger to shake. "Breakfast is here."

"What are you—AARRGHH!"

Gargantumon's tongue shot out and snatched Vademon off his feet in an instant, drawing him into his mouth. He snapped his jaws shut, trapping Vademon inside.

Delgado laughed loudly at the sight. "Ha! Oh man, Gargantumon, you really do have a one-track mind. Just the same, spit him out, I need him still."

"Mmm… yes, Master," Gargantumon said, and with only a small shift in his posture, spat out Vademon onto the metal ground.

"ARGH! Ugh, you repulsive, fat, greedy idiot!" Vademon got to his tentacled feet and wiped thick gobs of spit off of his body. He turned to Gargantumon, now absolutely livid and bellowed one single word: "DISGUSTING!"

"I agree," Gargantumon said, finally shifting onto his feet and slowly moving forward, out of the hanger. "You _do_ taste disgusting."

"That's not—"

"Easy, Vademon," Delgado said. "Give the big guy room." Vademon fell silent as Gargantumon finally moved out of the hanger and stood before the pair of them. Even if Delgado hadn't told him to be quiet, the sight of this creature would have shut him up.

"By Goddramon… he's huge!"

"Too big for the D-Chamber, isn't he?" Delgado asked.

"Er… yes, I'm sorry, Master," Vademon said. "We weren't anticipating that we'd ever need to accommodate such a _large_ soldier."

"Not to worry," Delgado said. "Honestly, I've seen this guy work his magic and I think he'll be a great part of my elite force along with Necromon and Sobekmon even without digivolving him." He chuckled. "Besides, it's tough enough to keep him fed as it is."

"Uh, Master?" Vademon whispered. "Not to question you, of course, but this creature… he's little more than a dull eating machine—"

"You wound me, Vademon," Gargantumon said. Vademon stared up in surprise. How had the gluttonous beast heard him? Gargantumon continued on, and his deep, rich voice added an edge of cunning to his words. "Though I am not the most erudite or loquacious of individuals, I am a seasoned traveler and expert combatant. You judge me for my appearance, but behind this exterior you may find that I nonetheless carry with me a developed philosophy."

"Ah, I see," Vademon stammered. "And what exactly _is_ that philosophy?"

"Simply this," said Gargantumon. "All life exists to feed and to breed. I have devoted myself to the embodiment of the former: to feed. The world is indeed filled with so many flavors, so there should be no barrier to experiencing them. Not the law, not the walls we erect, nor even the notion that a living being is not food. All that I desire, I consume. If I wish it to be a meal, then it is decided: its destiny is in my belly."

Delgado chuckled. "Ah, there it is. The coldness, the callous disregard for life, the brutally simple view of the world… he's the perfect soldier."

"I live to serve you, Master," Gargantumon said, bowing as best he could on two wobbly legs. "Speaking of _serving_, Master… is it time for my next meal?"

"Oh, almost," Delgado replied. "We're launching a major operation. The portals are operational, so we're going to launch an attack on Earth. Those humans won't know what hit them, and then we'll claim a prize that will be the final nail in humanity's coffin."

"Humans, eh?" Gargantumon asked.

"Yep." Delgado's twisted grin grew ever wider. "Ya hungry?"

Gargantumon mirrored Delgado's grin, only his was half the length of a soccer field. _"Starving."_

* * *

Ángel and Muchomon were up in the air, but as they looked around, they saw all the shattered islands floating in the sky slowly coming together, forming an expansive landscape like a jigsaw puzzle. The black, white, and gray of this world slowly receded, revealing the bright green lushness of the forest, the blue of the water and sky, and the rich, dark earth of the ground. Slowly they descended until they both landed in a clearing in the middle of a field of wheat.

"Muchomon," Ángel said. "We made it. We're back together."

"Ángel, I was trying so hard to reach you, but you were trapped in your own mind!"

"What?" Ángel asked. "No, I was in this forest. And then the cave…"

"It isn't real, my friend. It is all in the mind. You built this world. You had to escape it, just like I had to escape my own!"

"Well, that doesn't matter," Ángel said, though he wasn't sure how to take this news. "The important thing is that we are back together."

"But Ángel… no… you shouldn't be here. I didn't want to see you here!"

He blinked, looking down at his feathered companion. To his surprise, Muchomon had tears in his eyes. "I failed to protect you."

Ángel didn't understand what he meant. Wasn't he here? Didn't they find each other and make it back? True, the road was hard and the sorrow of his own loss weighed heavily upon him, but at least they were back together. "Do not talk like that," Ángel said, smiling at his partner. "We'll find out where we are, and track down Jin and Scarmon and the others. And—"

"No, Ángel!" Muchomon cried. "You don't understand! I… the Shepherd explained it all to me!"

"Who?" Ángel asked.

"Him!"

Ángel turned and saw a figure flying down from the sky. The stranger was like nothing he had ever seen before. The creature resembled a dog, with black fur on the top of his face and pale gray fur down the length of his belly and arms. However, he stood on two legs, which were adorned with white, cloth pants and golden sandals. From his head, two black braids dangled. Under his dark, intelligent eyes were red smears of paint. He had large, muscular forearms with dark gray symbols that ran the length of them, and he wore golden bracelets around his wrists, and jeweled armbands on his biceps. Most impressive were his shining gold wings that shimmered as he flapped them. He landed as softly as a feather and smiled warmly at him.

"I Am Glad You Made It Here," he said, and now his voice was clear as a bell, but it still struck him down to the depths of his being.

"You were the voice I heard!" Ángel exclaimed.

"Yes. I Am Called Anubismon, And I Am The Shepherd Of This Place."

"What is this place? You called it—"

"The Gathering Ground." Anubismon raised his hands to the sky and suddenly the forest, ground, and sky all vanished, and in their place was an infinite view of space. The stars and galaxies and nebulae all shined and glowed around him and he stared out with wonder. "This Place Is A Home For Those Who Have Lost Their Way And Need To Choose Their Next Path," he said. "Look On Them, The Ones Who Have Gathered Here."

He gestured and Ángel and Muchomon both gasped when they saw what was just above them. It was a river of glowing orbs, shining beautifully like individual miniature stars. There were thousands and thousands of them, and the river stretched as far as he could see in either direction.

"What… who are they?"

"In This Realm, I Help To Shepherd Those Who Wish To Return To The Digital World. This Is The Place All Digimon Pass Through, Though You Are The First Human… No, The _Second_ Human To Pass This Way. Because All The Lost Souls Gather Here, We Call It The Gathering Ground."

"Lost souls… Return to the Digital World…" Ángel's eyes went wide. And suddenly there was one more flash of memory:

_The Dark One, the Ancient Enemy was standing before him, tormenting him, urging him to give up. But he said something… he couldn't recall what it was, and then there was a swirling dark energy as he lifted his hand. And then it rushed forward. He never heard the sound, but there was a sudden __**shock **__as it hit him, and—_

"I… No…"

"Ángel, I'm so sorry!" Muchomon said, repeating it again and again.

"You're Here Because Your Life Has Reached Its End, Young Human. I Cannot Say Exactly Why You Came Here, Though I Have My Suspicions. I Will Do My Best To Aid You, But The Inescapable Truth Is This: You Are Dead."

Those final words sent him reeling. Was this it? Why did he come here? If he came here, then where did his family…

"My friends," he said, trying to stay focused. "Are they—"

"They Live," Anubismon said. "And Their Struggles Continue. As For Your Struggles, That Is Up To You."

Ángel swallowed. "I must help them. _We_ must help them!" He was excited now. "Muchomon is a digimon, so he can be reborn! And I am here, so—"

Anubismon raised his hand. "Listen Well, Ángel Dominguez," he said, and his eyes were stern. "Muchomon Can Indeed Return To The Village Of Beginnings Should He Wish. But With You… Even Though Your Journey Has Not Yet Come To An End, I Must Deal With You Truthfully And Quash That Unspoken Hope: My Power Is Great, As Is The Power Of The Spirits Of The Digital World, But Even We Have No Power To Do What You Ask. We Cannot Restore You To Your Former Life."

Ángel trembled before him. "You… you mean—"

"I Am Sorry. I Know Of No Power To Bring You Back As A Human Ever Again."

* * *

**To be continued…**

_Next time: The situation in Tokyo gets worse as the corrupted Digidestined bring more chaos to the city. Delgado's plan unfolds and the world moves ever closer to its end as Ángel wonders what he can do now that he's dead. All that, and the remaining team of Mimi, Michael, and Amanda tries to cope as the world around them falls apart…_

_Please leave a review and tell me what you think!_


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